Outcasts
by kyuubi-phoenix1600 v2.0
Summary: A boy everyone hates, a boy shunned for clan traditions, a girl thought of as weak, and a boy teased about his body. When one of them comes up with an idea, no one expects the changes. They are the ones who are not seen nor heard. They are the Outcasts. Refer to Chapter one of Wastelander for details concerning previous version. rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1: To Trick a Village

**Kyuubi1600: This is just me reposting these chapters. for a better explination, read chapter 1 of Wastelander!**

* * *

In the alleyway behind a house, a boy with hair in the shape of a duck's ass was running the trash out to the trash cans in the alley. After dumping the bag, the dark haired boy stalked off to sleep and plan revenge on his brother.

Unseen by the boy, a shadow detached itself from the darkness and began rummaging quietly in the can. After 10 minutes, the shadow departed with dented and rusted kunai and several old jutsu scrolls pertaining to Uchiha techniques and new books for studying fuuinjutsu.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was tired. It had been 8 years since the Kyuubi attack and the civilian council was hounding him still for the execution of Naruto. The boy was just a single year away from entering the Academy and they won't be able to touch him. Thankfully Danzou managed to make it so that the civilians and the other clan heads thought that he wanted Naruto to turn him into a weapon. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. Danzou wanted to keep the boy away from the cruelty that the civilians and certain shinobi wanted to put the boy through. He may be a war hawk, but even he knew that turning the boy into a mindless weapon would be disastrous. ROOT was continued, but on a lesser scale and was a very unique branch of ANBU with the approval of the Hokage. Going back to the subject: there were times that both the ex-ROOT leader and Hokage could not locate the boy and neither could find him. He just disappeared off the face of the earth at times. Both ANBU divisions did their damn best effort to locate the boy but could never find hide or hair of him. Naruto was like a ghost. They knew that he existed, but he was like smoke at times.

Sarutobi was working late in his office, trying to finish some last minute paperwork. He found another request from a civilian council member for the marriage of Sasuke Uchiha and his daughter. Torching the paper with a Katon jutsu, he moved to the next article when a knock was heard on his door. "Enter." The aged Hokage replied.

The door opened to reveal Danzou. "Sarutobi-sama, what on earth are you still doing up? The paperwork isn't going anywhere."

"Ha! It may not go anywhere but it grows and grows every second!" the Sandaime Hokage chuckled. "I don't know if its replication seals, or if it is actually plotting ways to paper cut me to death, but it is worse than Kyuubi."

"I may have something on that front."

Sarutobi grew serious. Pulling out his pipe, he motioned for the elder to continue.

"I believe that Naruto is talking with it." Danzou supplied as he sat on the couch. "When you consider it, that kitsune is more than likely the only person who can teach the level of stealth Naruto may be using. My ROOT agents are not even close to him in terms of stealth, but luck shined on them tonight."

"What happened?"

"One of the agents, Sai if I'm not mistaken, is tasked with watching the Uchiha and seeing if there is any way to deter him from the destructive path he is following. Sasuke took out the trash tonight, throwing away old scrolls and books on sealing. As the Uchiha left, Sai saw a shadow detach itself from the opposite side of the alley and rummage through the can. He activated his night vision goggles and found that it was Naruto."

"How is the boy?" Sarutobi inquired.

"He is malnourished and scared according to Sai's report. The only food he has been able to get is from Ichiraku's when he can afford it. If the state of his clothes is anything to go by, he has been out of the orphanage for at least 2 or 3 months, maybe longer."

"Now that I think about it, a couple of the clans have reported something or someone rummaging through their garbage at random times. They have tried to catch the culprit, but they just slip out of their grasp." Sarutobi added. "Do you think that it's him?"

"More than likely. I do know that the child may have inherited Minato's mind. I mean, look at his pranks. He can pull them off and no one can point a finger at him or he is within the law for doing it." Danzou supplied.

The Hokage pulled out his viewing orb. "Let us see if we can find him."

The orb glowed, and the fog departed to reveal the Mitsurugi Weapon's shop forge. There were several seals around the general area, more than likely stopping the sound. Naruto was in front of the furnace, shirt less and sweating from the heat exposure. Danzou commented. "He is going to have fan girls when he is older."

"Yes, but that may not happen until he does something to save the village or he is over 18." Hiruzen sighed.

Naruto pulled something out of the forge and proceeded to pound on the item with a hammer. After about a half hour, the two spies saw that he was making a pair of shin guards.

"What is he up to?"

Sarutobi snorted. "He's making a pair of shin guards. Is your eyesight going already?"

Danzou leveled a glare at the aged Hokage. "I get that, but if you notice, he's reading a book on sealing too."

Hiruzen took a closer look. Sure enough, there was a book near the working boy that he kept looking back at. After a few more minutes, he shut down the forge and took his supplies and book away. After that, the viewing orb lost track of him after he went into the street leading to the training grounds and flashed a single sentence on it: 'Target lost, you peeping asshole.'

* * *

Naruto chomped on some popcorn in one of his hideaways that he had around Konoha as he watched one of his favorite movies. This particular one was located just inside the Forest of Death. He had outfitted this hideaway as his home. The best way to describe it was to take the ultimate bachelor's pad and throw in shelves full of scrolls and some of the best furniture and electronics money could buy.

But Naruto never bought anything except for his meals. Everything he had had been from the trash. The richer people often got something and not even a week later they throw it out because it wasn't 'fashionable'. The trash collectors were friends of Naruto's and sometimes helped him by holding on to heavy furniture that Naruto wanted but couldn't move it. If it was a good night and no mobs were chasing him, he could move larger things. And he could do it by himself too, but he liked the trash collectors and wanted to talk with them at times.

Unknown to anyone except for the Sandaime and Danzou, Kyuubi did talk to her host. When they first met, she shattered the 50 seals that he had on him that were supposed to stop his growth. Yes, Kyuubi is a she. When you think about it, women are the strongest creatures on the planet. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Anyways, she also enhanced his memory almost to the point of being photographic. If she had gone any farther, he would be having flash backs that would land him in the crazy ward. But she enhanced him and willingly gave him control of her chakra, but told him that he could not use it until he found someone to train him with it.

Despite the enhancements Kyuubi made, she still needed to help him train his body. So, she taught him about being a jack of all spades. She trained him (mentally of course) in a variety of styles. To name a few, there was parkour (A/N: spelling?), the Assassin style that allowed one to move through crowds and areas without being actively noticed, Gambit: the style of thieves and rogues that allowed one to move in the shadows and strike only to fade into the wind, Kitsune: the style of foxes and vixens that allowed one to play around with their enemies before going for the kill, and the pranking: the style that could only be used by expert pranksters if they could find a master to teach them. Naruto was at the intermediate level with all of them. She also made him learn sealing, which he took to like a fish to water.

Then came the equipment.

As many readers know, Naruto was not allowed to enter many establishments, including shinobi supply shops. So he did the next best option: scrounge the tools and supplies and make your own. What Danzou and Sandaime witnessed was the result of training. He had been going over plans for a couple of weeks on various armor pieces and weapons.

Naruto continued to watch his movie called Iron Man 2. When it came to the part where the suit was pulled out of a briefcase, Naruto had to chuckle. Movies were such great ways to get inspiration, no?

Pulling his eyes from his movie, his gaze wandered over to the small pile of files he had on his desk. Naruto knew that he had a year until he was eligible to enter the Academy, but that didn't mean that he couldn't scout potential teammates. But there was a problem. A majority of the class he was joining were fan girls or children of the civilian council. That knocked off a large chunk of the options, but he did come up with 8 other potential teammates. After watching/spying on them for a couple of weeks, he came down to 3.

First was an Akimichi named Choji. The boy was rather rotund, but that didn't stop Naruto. Choji was a bit of a loner when he wasn't hanging out with Shikamaru Nara. The reason was because of the fact that the other kids thought that he was useless. But help comes from the strangest of places. Unknown to the bullies, Choji was physically the strongest kid Naruto could find aside from Rock Lee. But the rotund boy had one of the biggest hearts that Naruto had ever seen. This led to him being picked on by the bullies, while earning him the nickname 'the Fatty Baby'. Better than demon, I suppose.

Second was a boy named Shino Aburame. This was a tough nut to crack. Shino was barely seen outside of his compound. But Naruto gleaned a lot from Shino's time out of the compound. Shino was tolerated, but barely due to his family's tradition of allowing the destruction bugs to reside in their bodies. Shino had a brilliant mind. He analyzed every situation and managed to find a way to get the middle ground. Naruto could already see the ideas that Shino could create using his bugs and had to refrain from drooling over the idea.

The third person he found was in his opinion the crown jewel of the team. Hinata Hyuuga was a kind and gentle soul. He also found that she frequently followed/stalked him and could gain some insight on her. She was one of the wielders of the kekkei genkai Byakugan, one of the three great doujutsus. From what Naruto gathered, she was the black sheep of the Hyuuga clan. She was loved by the Branch family due to her refusal to use the Caged Bird seal and hated by the Hyuuga elders because she was kind hearted and didn't use the seal. From what he could tell, the girl was not weak, rather she lacked confidence in her skills and was repeatedly put down because of it. Her sister was not stronger. Hinata didn't want to harm her only sibling and force her into the Branch family. With these facts alone, he could see that she was very strong. She just needed to get on the confidence steroids to help her. Or he needed to ask her out. Either would work to Hinata's and Naruto's interest.

Now, he just needed to bring up the idea of the secondary team to Jiji-san and get it approved.

'Naruto.'

'Hey, Akane-chan. How was your nap?'

'Unpleasant due to someone banging on metal. You should have waited until I was up!'

'By then the coals would have been cold.' Naruto shot back. 'Any ways, what's your take on this batch?'

The vixen was quiet as she scanned through the memories. 'Very nice craftsmanship, Naruto. Are the seals applied?'

'Hai, now I just need to make the other pieces, but for now,' Naruto pulled out a box. 'I need to talk to Jiji to get the plan going.'

* * *

_The next day_

Naruto snuck by the secretary in the Hokage tower and knocked on the door. He was answered with an 'Enter' and quietly opened the door and closed before crying, "Jiji, how's the back?"

Sarutobi scowled at the boy. "My back is fine, you little monkey! Now, what can I do for you?"

"I want to make a secondary team."

"Oh? Enlighten me."

"I know that we have the regular 4 man cells of one jounin and 3 genin, but I want to put together a team of genin that can do anything jounin level and specialize in a specific area. This team will work on regular missions if the other team members are indisposed."

Hiruzen leaned back and took a huff of his pipe. "Your idea has merit. I take it you want to team up with some of the genin in your class?"

"Hai."

"Do you have any preference who?"

"Hai. I've observed most of my class mates and came up with 3 potential teammates." Naruto reached up and handed the aged Hokage the files.

The Sandaime opened the first file. "Choji Akimichi?"

"If I can figure out a training schedule, he would be our heavy lifter and hitter. I would need to see if the Akimichi clan has any jutsu for moving the position of some of his puffiness so that he could pull off stealth missions and what not."

"Interesting choice." Sarutobi opened the second file. "Shino Aburame?"

"Tracking mainly, but again, with enough training he could pull off heavy assault too."

"Your choices are getting peculiar and peculiar." He opened the final file. "Hinata Hyuuga?"

"Torture. I thought Anko-chan and Ibiki-san wouldn't mind teaching someone their methods so that they don't get swamped with work if we capture some one out on the field. The main problem with her is that her confidence and self-esteem is rather low. But training with me should help her."

"Naturally," he closed the file. "and yourself?"

"Seals. I've read 7 of the ten Sealing and Fuuinjutsu series, so I'm intermediate at the moment." Naruto reported. "Trust me, I've given this a lot of thought."

"How would you hide your skills?"

"Masks. Not the ones like Neko-chan and the others wear, but proverbial ones. Choji will only show off his clans jutsus and be friends with Shikamaru and eat a lot. Shino will be like Choji: clan jutsus only. Hinata will just need to act as she is now. I will just be the class clown and the kid that wears the orange jumpsuit and cries "Believe it!" at the end of the majority of my sentences. I'll even pretend to like someone like Sakura Haruno to keep it in place."

"In other words, you will become enigmas."

"Exactly." Naruto sat back.

"Who will teach you? Most of the Jounin have already either taken teams or are far to busy to teach."

"Akane-chan."

Sarutobi blinked. "Who?"

"Kyuubi-chan."

"Why?"

"Primarily, she is bored. But she has lived for thousands of years and has a lot of experience under her belt. She's the one who taught me how to stop your viewing orb and how to avoid the ANBU."

Sarutobi was gobbsmacked. It was a perfect idea. "Naruto, how can you do all this?"

"Akane-chan shattered the 50 other seals I had on me and enhanced my brain." He patted his stomach. "She even gave me full control of her chakra, but told me to wait until I found someone to train with."

"Very well. And what will your teams name be?"

Naruto just smiled.

* * *

_That evening_

Hinata entered her room after another brutal training time. She fell over on to her bed and silently cried into her pillow. Feeling something under her pillow, she pulled out a letter and an envelope addressed to her.

She opened it to find a hand written letter and a pendant in the shape of a dragon's scale. Putting the pendant off to the side, she pulled out the letter.

* * *

_Aburame estate_

Shino placed the pendant down and read the letter:

_Shino-san_

_You have been chosen to be apart of a new experiment. You will not be tested on, but rather you will be the tester. The experiment is the creation of a 4 man team of genin that will have Jounin level skills and specialize in a certain area. You will be the tracking. _

_All teammates of this squad will be spread out through the genin teams, but you will be able to recognize them due to you all wearing similar pendants. If you choose to accept, place one drop of blood on the pendant and send a pulse of chakra into the necklace._

_The team leader will be wearing the golden pendant._

_Hiruzen Sarutobi_

_Sandaime Hokage_

Shin turned to the pendant and placed it in his hand.

* * *

_Akimichi estate_

Choji pricked his finger on a kunai and let the single droplet fall on to the scale. Wrapping his hand around the pendant, he pulsed his chakra into it. Opening his hand, he was awarded with the sight of now blue and purple scale that was projecting one simple line that changed his life.

_Welcome to the Outcasts_


	2. Chapter 2: First Meeting

**Kyuubi-phoenix1600: I am reposting all of the chapters from my previous stories, but am clearing the authors notes.**

**Disclaimer: If you really give a shit about it, go suck on Orochimaru's left testicle (if they are there). I don't own Naruto or anything else that is copyrighted.**

* * *

_Previously on Outcasts:_

_Hinata entered her room after another brutal training time. She fell over on to her bed and silently cried into her pillow. Feeling something under her pillow, she pulled out a letter and an envelope addressed to her._

_She opened it to find a hand written letter and a pendant in the shape of a dragon's scale. Putting the pendant off to the side, she pulled out the letter._

* * *

_Aburame estate_

_Shino placed the pendant down and read the letter:_

_Shino-san_

_You have been chosen to be apart of a new experiment. You will not be tested on, but rather you will be the tester. The experiment is the creation of a 4 man team of genin that will have Jounin level skills and specialize in a certain area. You will be the tracking specialist._

_All teammates of this squad will be spread out through the genin teams, but you will be able to recognize them due to you all wearing similar pendants. If you choose to accept, place one drop of blood on the pendant and send a pulse of chakra into the necklace._

_The team leader will be wearing the golden pendant._

_Hiruzen Sarutobi_

_Sandaime Hokage_

_Shino turned to the pendant and placed it in his hand._

* * *

_Akimichi estate_

_Choji pricked his finger on a kunai and let the single droplet fall on to the scale. Wrapping his hand around the pendant, he pulsed his chakra into it. Opening his hand, he was awarded with the sight of now blue and purple scale that was projecting one simple line that changed his life._

_Welcome to the Outcasts_

* * *

Danzou looked over the files. Hiruzen had called him into his office shortly after Naruto presented the Outcasts project. It was actually mildly entertaining to read the files. It had a sort of spice to it that kept him interested. Hey, only those who constantly read mission reports would know what he is talking about. Closing the files, he leveled his gaze at the boy. "Naruto, be honest to me. Who came up with these?"

**'Summon me. I can explain it better.'**

"Gimme a second." Naruto flipped through hand seals faster than either elderly men could track before placing his hand on the desk and saying, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" before he passed out from chakra exhaustion. (A/N: He may have massive reserves, but summoning someone that was intentionally sealed in his gut is going to take a lot of chakra.)

There was an explosion of smoke and as it cleared, a 16 year old girl in a sunset red and orange kimono appeared. Her eyes were crimson as well as her long hair. 9 fox tails appeared behind her as her fox ears flicked around on top of her head. **"Hello, boys. How is dealing with paperwork?"**

Sandiame and Danzou blinked.

…

…

…

…

…

…

**"Yes, the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko is a woman."** The fox huffed. **"Honestly, why do you think when a woman goes on a rampage, people tend to get out of her way?"**

Now that she mentioned it, the females of the Uzumaki clan were semi-legendary for their fiery tempers. Kushina was a hell of an example. Even when she was pregnant Minato was the only one who could calm her.

"You? You came up with these files?" Danzou looked at the vixen in disbelief.

**"Hai. Naru-chan and I set up a system. He would observe the person and later at night when he wasn't in the hospital, I would assume control and put together the files. I even made him rehearse what to say to the Old monkey here so that we could pass the idea."** She said. **"And my name is Akane. No formalities, I hate them."**

Sarutobi shook himself from his stupor. "Why?"

**"Why what?"**

"Why would you do this? I mean no offense, but you are a demon."

**"There were multiple reasons. One of them being him."** She motioned to the sleeping boy being cradled by her tails. **"There were other factors affecting the course of that night, FYI. We demons may kill like mass murderers, but name one that didn't care for their family."** Akane turned at stared into the Sandaime's eyes.** "Among demons, children are revered and protected much like you humans and the phrase 'Women and children first'. I have managed to contact my clan of kitsunes and vixens with Naru-chan's help and could barely keep them from finishing what I started. I started the idea because at time you humans are worse than us demons. It is a way for those who believe that they have no friends in the world to gain friends. With the members, Hinata has barely been outside her compound and has been looked down on for many weeks. She is bullied when her guardian is not around and bullied in her own home. Shino hasn't been able to make friends due to his clan's tradition of sharing their bodies with insects and again, hardly ever leaves his compound. Choji has one sole friend, but when he is not around, the poor boy is picked on because of his clan's genetics. Naruto even witnessed him crying himself to sleep at nights when the teasing was strongest. You both know what Naruto has been through."** Both men hung their heads in shame.

**"All four of them deserve a little caring in their life other than families, pillows or stuffed foxes like Hinata has."** Danzou quirked an eyebrow at this. **"She admires Naru-chan for his strength."** Akane answered the invisible question. **"She noticed some of his facial quirks are fox like, so she uses a stuffed fox to act as him."**

After a few minutes of digesting this information, Danzou turned to Hiruzen. "You know, her idea reminds me of that guard that Nidaime formed for a few years before he absolved it."

The Hokage frowned. "The Hokage's Hand? It failed due to internal conflicts and he didn't want the council to hear of it."

**"What were their ages?"**

"I recall that most of them were jounin. I believe they were around their late 20s or early 30s." Sarutobi thought out loud. "The group was, according to Sensei, above even the council and certain laws at times. They operated solely under the Hokage's command, had special privileges, and had command over jounins and ANBU. What's on your mind, Danzou?"** (A/N: Shout out to Delfim the Black kitsune and his story Naruto: Tamer of Foxes for inspiration! Delfim owns the idea of the Hokage's Hand. I am only borrowing the past and abilities. I don't own anything from the story!)**

"We create a new group. Many people including myself have under estimated younger people all the time. Look at Hatake and Itachi Uchiha." At the mention of Kakashi, Akane grimaced and tightened her hold on the slumbering Naruto. "This group will be of shinobi candidates that don't fit the norm and are outside the influence of the big social world. In other words, the group will be made up of outcasts." Danzou continued. "We choose a select number of retired shinobi to teach them and train them using the standards you use your group."

Akane's eyes widened. **"My group?"**

"Certainly. You are the one who came up with the idea. You should be the one who sets the standards."

Hiruzen puffed his pipe. "You're taking this well."

"Yes, but I am also looking at the possibilities. Should the civilian council ever revolt, they can influence the ANBU and other shinobi. The only faction here that isn't bound to them is my ROOT. If we can make a hidden arsenal of shinobi that can take down any enemy," Both the vixen and Hokage's eyes widened at the realization of the idea, "we can effectively manage to take them down. It's a defense for internal affairs."

**"The main shinobi force is for defense outside the village."** Akane concluded. **"ANBU is the main internal defense, while ROOT and Outcasts operate should the ANBU be compromised. Brilliant. How will we choose our members and what not?"**

"The Academy teachers, or more specifically Iruka Umino." Sarutobi replied earnestly. "He can pick up on any one being an outcast. Okay," he stood up. "This idea will work, but we need to tread carefully. The main problem will be starting, but with the people that you chose we should be able to make due. Teams will have a minimum of four members and will operate away from the other groups." He turned to face the sleeping village. "If there are others that are outcasts and are the same age as the other members we will add them should we find them but it will be strictly voluntary. Have the others accepted?"

One of Akane's tails snaked its way into Naruto's pocket and pulled out the dragon scale pendant. She flashed a bit of Naruto's chakra and a holographic image appeared. It was divided into three parts and all three parts were green. **"Hai."**

Danzou looked at the pendant curiously. "What is that?"

**"The pendant acts as a communicator for the team. It can be used to telepathically communicate or to visually communicate should it be needed."** Akane described as her tail put it back. **"There are other uses for it, but we are still testing them."**

"Alright, I think that we have had a long evening. When will the first team meeting be?" Hiruzen asked.

**"Whenever you want it to be."**

"A week. We will wait a week and gather them at ROOT's old headquarters. You do after all have the biggest training grounds." The aged Hokage reasoned.

"That we do." Danzou nodded.

"Alright then." Sarutobi finished. "Is anyone else getting shivers of excitement from this?"

"Kinda."

**"Nope, but I'm getting shivers for a different reason." **Akane blushed lightly at the thoughts running through her head that would have Jiraiya on the floor suffering from blood loss. **"I believe you should be aware that Naruto has a kekkei genkai. As to what it is, I don't know."**

* * *

_One week later, the night before the first team meeting_

_He stood on a dark and desolate plain. Life was non-existent in the plants. The trees were withered and wilted, sporting no leaves to show that they still grew. 'Where am I?' Naruto thought. "Hello? Is anyone there?"_

_Twin primal roars echoed in response on the other side of the forest behind him. Turning in the direction that he heard the noise, Naruto did what many people in this situation would not do: he ran to the sound. As he ran, trees cracking and breaking were heard as the roars grew louder and louder. The ground shook from impacts that were thunderous and heavy._

_He arrived to a clearing to see a fight. Two larger than average creatures clashed in the center._

_One was a crimson and sapphire colored fox. 9 flowing tales whipped around, demolishing trees and targeting the other creature. It wore numerous injuries indicating that this fight had been going on for a long time. Blood seeped from the open wounds as the fox glared at the other animal._

_The other was a purple and black dragon with yellow horns. It was in the same condition as the fox; wounds bled out on to the ground and the wings were torn in places as well._

_**"You will not interfere!"** the dragon roared. **"It must awaken!"**_

_**"I am bound to him for the rest of his natural life!"** the fox screamed. **"I will stop those who intend to harm him, including it! It failed to protect his family from the scourge! I will not let him suffer the same fate!"**_

_The dragon roared and charged the kitsune, who responded in kind._

_Both claws were reared back and about to strike when Naruto appeared between them and cried, "Stop, Why can't you work together!"_

* * *

Naruto bolted upright. Sweat poured out of his orifices as he gasped for air. That was the second time he had that dream. The first time he just found himself on the plain. This time something was up. He stood up and went over to his bathroom to wash his face. He stood straight and looked at himself in the mirror. He really needed a girlfriend. Writing in a journal was not going to help him with this dream. Somehow, he felt that it was deeper than that.

Little did he know how right he was.

* * *

_Timeskip: 6 hours; Location: Hyuuga Compound_

Hinata rose from her seat. She was outside in her mother's garden, caring for the flowers. As she put the materials away, she absentmindedly touched her pendant, which was now a mixture of white, sapphire blue and amethyst purple as opposed to the pure white color before.

Hiashi had noticed it, but dismissed it. Others just thought she had bought the trinket at a store for encouragement. The first night she had it, she saw a red haired woman who proceeded to tell her not to tell anyone about the letter or where the pendant came from and that all would be explained in a week. And so, she waited. But she was not idle. She walked around town with Ko.

One of the first things that she noticed was that 2 other heirs were chosen like her. Shino just looked at her and nodded as he touched the pendant around his neck and carried on his way. She saw Choji with his and as soon as she caught his eye, she did the same motion to him as Shino did to her. Choji nodded back before continuing with Shikamaru.

But what puzzled her was the fact that she couldn't find the final member. She even ditched Ko to track Naruto down, but she couldn't see any sign of the gold pendant nor of a pendant of any kind. This saddened her, but she hoped he was okay.

Ko walked up beside her. "Hinata-san, Hokage-sama is at the gates asking for a walk with you and the heirs of the Aburame and Akimichi clans."

Hinata perked up at this. She was finally going to get some answers.

* * *

_Timeskip: Ten minutes later, Location: the top of the Hokage Monument_

Hiruzen smiled at the three children before him. "Before I get to what those pendant mean, how have you all been?"

Shino answered first. His pendant clinked on his shirt. (A/N: Does anyone have any clue what his chakra nature is? It could be wind, fire would just kill the bugs unless used right, lightning would fry them but same as fire, maybe earth or water or a combination thereof? *shrugs* I'll let you decide. You have within three days after the posting to decide.) "There is neither here nor there, Hokage-sama."

Choji replied second. "I've been better but I'm not really complaining."

"I-I-I've b-b-b-b-been f-f-fine, Hokage-sama." Everyone's favorite lavender hair kunoichi supplied.

"I see." Sandaime smiled. "Well, according to the letter with those pendants around your necks, you have been chosen for a new program I have high hopes for." He motioned for them to follow him as he entered the tunnels behind his head. "The program is called Outcasts. It is not short for anything, it says what it means. You all will be apart of an elite unit and supporting the Hokage position and only the Hokage position. You will operate outside some of Konoha's laws. Not all of them," he added as an afterthought. "But certain ones. I'll explain after you meet the fourth member." He pushed a button next to an empty wall that opened a door to a small room. He ushered them in and pushed the button labeled T.G. "There will be other groups, but for now you will be the only team."

"What about the Academy?" Shino inquired.

"You will still be attending the Academy, afterwards you will scatter to the winds with your team and Jounin sensei. But should I call on you, you will be in my office within 5 minutes. You will be trained by some one with years under her belt." He scoffed at their looks. "You look as though you have questions."

"W-W-Why us?" Hinata stammered.

"The program is called Outcasts for a reason. You all know what it's like to stand on the outside looking in. Choji, you have been picked on numerous times due to your family's genetics of being well rounded."

"Thank you for not saying fat."

"Not a problem. Shino, you have been barely accepted by society but are still shunned due to your clan's tradition of allowing insects to co-inhabit your bodies."

Shino nodded at this.

"Hinata, you are the black sheep of the Hyuuga. You are constantly put down for your lack of skill in the clan arts and for your kindness to others and your gentleness. You are also shunned outside clan walls due to your clan's arrogance and the proverbial 'stick up their asses' as your fourth member would put it." He chuckled at their looks. "He has a very colorful array of words for you clansmen, Hinata. And don't cry, there's nothing to be sad about. You all can tell at times when something is up due to your being on the outside. Outcasts is an internal defense should ANBU ever fail along with the ANBU division that Danzou runs, ROOT. This team will be your home away from home, a family besides the ones you share blood with, and friends you know you can rely on if your teams are on a mission and you are in a battle."

"Forgive my interruption, Hokage-sama, but it sounds as if this was tried before." Shino asked as the elevator doors opened and the aged leader lead them down the hall.

"It was, but under a different name. It failed due to the members being too old to forget old rivalries and tensions rose. Nidaime cancelled the program and wiped their memories of it. Now we are trying it with a younger group. This way you will all be able to work together." He opened the door to the next room. "Here we are."

Hinata's eyes widened at the sight of Naruto. "N-N-Naruto-kun? W-W-W-What a-are y-y-you d-d-d-doing h-h-h-here?" she mentally cursed her stammering.

He pulled the golden pendant out of his pocket. "I'm the fourth member."

"Naruto has been outside the village longer than all of you know. He has seen and done things that many can't prove was him." Hiruzen explained as they filtered into the room

"The pranks." Choji realized.

"Hai. He earned the title of Prankster King about 2 years ago." Sarutobi grew serious. "Now what I am about to tell you is an S-rank secret. You cannot speak of it outside of this training ground, team meetings, or private settings when you are with each other, understand?"

There was a chorus of "Hai."

"First off, Yondaime did not kill Kyuubi." Three pairs of eyes widened at this new truth. "Kyuubi was and is too powerful. So he did the next best thing; he sealed it and created something that has existed since the time of the Shodai Hokage. He made a jinchuuriki." Hinata's hands rose to cover her mouth as Choji gapped and Shino raised both eyebrows. "Tell me, who do you know of that was born on October 10th?"

Hinata immediately turned and tackled/hugged Naruto while crying "Gomen!" over and over.

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, Hinata has it right. Naruto is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. In order for you to work together as a team, you need to know each other's darkest secrets. That is Naruto's deepest one. There are others, but I am withholding those until after the Academy."

Shino let out a dozen of bugs that flew over to the prone boy. "My insects tell me that they do indeed sense the youki of Kyuubi and that its chakra is eventually fused with yours."

"You're not afraid?" a startled Naruto asked.

"You are like me: shunned for having something since you were born."

"I can see the similarities, but you are you." Choji piped up before pulling out a bag of bar-b-que chips. "Kyuubi is Kyuubi."

"Now comes the biggest shocker for you." The group turned to face the Hokage. "Kyuubi was the one who suggested this."

"Why?" Shino asked.

**"Because I want a second chance."** Akane opened the door to the training ground. **"Naru-chan and all of you deserve to have friends. That is how this project started. Lord Hokage was the one to come up with everything else. Him and Danzou."**

"K-K-K-K-Kyuubi?" Hinata stared at the fox.

**"Hai. And I prefer Akane."** She informed them.** "I will also be training you. I am not free, but Naru-chan is able to summon me for training."**

"Ah, well, this is where I must take my leave." Sarutobi interjected. "Paperwork is going to kill me yet."

**"Two words: Shadow clones."** Akane told the Hokage before letting him out. She turned to the children as the God of Shinobi let out a maniacal laugh and took off to tackle the true Juubi of all. She smiled sinisterly at the group. **"Time for the torture to begin."**

The door clicked shut ominously behind her.

* * *

**Ja ne!**


	3. Chapter 3: Pulling in the Travelers

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 2 if you give a rat's ass about it!

"Talking"

'Thoughts/conversation with Kyuubi'

**"Akane/Kyuubi/Summons talking"**

**'Akane/Kyuubi/Summons thoughts'**

* * *

Sarutobi shook his head as he gazed out on Konoha. Behind him 3 Shadow Clones worked on the paperwork, allowing him to finally see the top of his desk. This clearing of the desk revealed to the aged hokage that someone managed to stick a replication seal on the bottom of the 'inbox' tray. He destroyed it and simply continued on his way. Moving on, he was shaking his head at the arrogance and ignorance of the population. Several times over the past 3 years that Project Outcasts had been running, the civilian council tried to call for the execution or banishment of Naruto Uzumaki. They were denied several times and only increased their anger/rage. Thinking of the blonde, Sarutobi couldn't help but smile. In order for the 'enigma' idea to work, he sent them off to see one Yukie Fujikaze for acting lessons. After about a month, she sent them back with a letter stating that if they ever wanted to leave the shinobi lifestyle, she would help them get started. They were the first people that she 'kinda' opened up to.

And they were good.

Hinata 'became' the stuttering failure of the Hyuuga clan that was prone to blushing and fainting when Naruto was around. Shino was quiet and didn't interact with anyone unless he had to. Choji became the boy that constantly ate and hung out with Shikamaru. Naruto became the wearer of an insanely orange jumpsuit and a pair of googles. He pulled pranks on everyone and unleashed terror upon the ANBU at times. Sandaime had to tighten up the ANBUs training due to Naruto being able to sneak in and put paint bombs around the place.

He never said how he managed to put the orange paint bomb in the women's locker room.

That particular prank had both Danzou and Hiruzen rolling on the floor laughing, or rather Hiruzen was laughing on the floor while Danzou only let out a few chuckles. He did have a reputation to uphold. Naruto even 'became' infatuated with Sakura Haruno, who had declared her self the number one fan girl of Sasuke Uchiha and had earned the infamous nicknames Billboard Brow and Banshee. Naruto and the others called her something more colorful when they were alone as well as the Pink Howler Monkey from Hell.

But moving back to the group, Akane had driven them into the ground with a training workout she called The Inferno. They were forced to run courses filled with death traps and other sorts of goodies that Ibiki and Anko set up themselves. They wore training weights forced them to move by walking only at first. Needless to say they were extremely sore the next day. But they grew in leaps and bounds.

Akane modeled Shino and Choji after old warriors she knew from a long time ago. Choji earned the nickname 'Juggernaut' due to his favorite jutsus, Iron skin and Velocity no jutsu. Iron skin no jutsu did just that: made his skin like iron. He could still be injured, but it took a lot more power. Velocity no jutsu allowed him to start running in a certain direction and the longer he ran, the faster he got and the harder it became to stop. More than once he caused an avalanche in one of the nearby mountain ranges in Fire Country as he trained. They discovered his primary element was earth and Danzo, Hiruzen, and Akane provided him with a plethora of jutsus to use. He chose 10 of the offered but promised to look up the others at a later date. Away from the public eye he wore armor in the form of a chest plate, greaves, and gauntlets from Naruto. He asked about the seals imbedded on the back and Naruto just smiled and said that that was a surprise.

Shino was modeled after a warrior Akane only knew as Cloud. Shino wielded 7 interlocking swords that could be combined to form one large sword. Danzo had suggested that all of the blades be made of chakra metal, but Akane refused and with the help of Naruto and Choji made it so that in order to channel chakra into the blade, all 6 swords had to be connected. Shino never named the blades. He just simply called the end result Yukensetsu. Shino wore a simple red duster with the same armor format as Choji. Shino's elements were discovered to be earth, fire and wind, but he could only wield one in conjunction with his beetles. In turn he could only wield fire and wind with Yukensetsu, but that did not keep him down. He turned to Yuugao and Hayate for kenjutsu training and sparred with them every week to stay sharp.

Hinata had grown in leaps and bounds. At the beginning of the training, Akane would go with Hinata once a week to the local hot springs and spend some quality girl time together. Her fellow teammates could only guess that Akane was teaching her the finer points of the kunoichi lifestyle. When she was with the group, she wore an outfit similar to her sensei Anko. She wore an orange and indigo tank top over the mesh shirt and black shorts under the skirt. She was their torture expert, but she could hold her own on the field. Naruto was experimenting with seals and discovered that using the right combination he could create self sustaining chakra blasts. The draw back was that he had to make the seals before hand and each seal could only do a certain number of shots. Hinata wielded 6 of these seals/weapons and knew how to use them very well. She wore the same armor format provided by Naruto.

Naruto was powerful. He had mastered all of the seals made available to him by the books he read and was currently waiting for Jiraiya to come along and help him fine tune said skills. Akane had taught him 7 different elemental jutsus and sent him off to master them to the point of being able to do said jutsus with only 2 seals and only had 4 of the chosen jutsus down. He wore a duster similar to Shino but pure gold in color outfitted with numerous self-repair seals and storage seals for him to use. He wore the same armor as the others but it had different seals on it. The group inquired and Naruto simply said that it was a secret. He never stopped pranking and the others just encouraged him.

For example, during one prank he created a glider, and using some Fuuton seals managed to stay aloft as he carpet bombed the entire village with paint. After the seals failed and he crashed into one of the trees by the wall, ANBU came across Naruto hanging from his makeshift parachute and started poking him with a stick as they laughed their asses off. Naruto later revealed that the paint was Shadow clones and when dispelled left everything as it was before the bombing. He pointed out a major crack in security of the village and got a prank out of it. Then not even a week later someone *coughDuckbuttcough* had to insult ramen. By now Naruto practically worshipped ramen and took great offense. He rebuilt the glider and bombed that person with old ramen in water balloons.

The civilian council tried to convict him of that prank, but no one knew the identity of the bomber as he had wore a mask to keep his identity a secret.

Due to the fact that they couldn't accept missions, the Outcasts were forced to take missions that Danzou only sent his ROOT on. Sarutobi's eyebrow twitched. If rumors were true, then some how the group managed to procure an entire pirate ship. Whether or not they retrofitted it for their needs was a different matter entirely. They did small jobs like eliminating bandit camps or what ever Danzou found. And they gained allies within the village.

Outside of the Outcasts, Naruto managed to get a job at a failing weapons shop and sales shot through the roof. Naruto was working there whenever you didn't find him with Sandaime, learning at the Academy, or eating at Ichiraku's. In order for the boy to get the job, Sandaime was forced to bring Kaito Makika into the group. Kaito was ecstatic that Naruto had friends and told them that his shop would always be open to them. Unknown to the group except for the 2 old geezers *Author breaks off as he runs from Danzou and Sarutobi who are threatening to give him an ass whooping. Author returns after 15 minutes and continues writing*, Kaito was one of the supporters of the 'Naruto is Naruto, Kyuubi is Kyuubi' idea and had helped the boy on numerous occasions. He also brought them a new member named Toshiro. But they had a slight problem.

Toshiro had a kekkei genkai that was extremely unstable. The kekkei genkai allowed him to transform into a poisonous form of energy (in large doses and long periods of time) and to wield said energy in various ways. There were times he transformed by complete accident. With the help of Naruto, Akane, Danzou, and Kaito, they created a metal body for the boy to use. Due to his powers, he gained the name of Reactor from everyone else and now worked with Danzou away from the public eye. Akane worked with him from time to time to help him gain a semblance of a shinobi's life.

As for allies outside the village, the Daimyo was informed of the formation of the new group and rather excited to meet the new team. He was wary of Akane despite reassurances that she would not harm him. After some days talking with the Daimyo, he supported the idea and scolded Danzou for continuing ROOT even after Yondaime ordered him to disband it. Danzou took the scolding like a man and simply apologized to him. The group also made contact with one Zabuza Momochi and Haku Momochi during a mission that took them relatively close to Zabuza's stomping grounds. After a few bouts, both became honorary members of the Outcasts and of Konoha. Sarutobi sent them the necessary documents and heard shortly afterwards that the group procured that pirate ship.

Now Sarutobi had not been idle as this new group rose. Nay, he was working hard on devising plans with in the laws he made if the advisors and civilian council crossed the line. Now a plan was beginning to bear fruit.

* * *

_In a bar near the land of Wind and the land of Rivers_

A woman looking to be in her early twenties with blonde hair and pig tails downed another cup of sake as the dark haired woman next to her tried to make her stop.

"Lady Tsunade, you should really stop and focus on your health!" the woman scolded.

Tsunade scowled at the woman. "It's my money Shizune, let me use it as I want!"

A mandrill with a walking stick appeared in front of her, startling the two. **"Are you Tsunade?"**

After picking herself up off the floor, Tsunade scowled at the primate. "I'm not going back. Tell Sensei that and that is final."

**"Hiruzen thought that may be the case, and told me to tell you this: 'If you don't return to Konoha, I will revoke your travel rights as a Sannin and put you in the Bingo Book and send Hunter nins after you until you return here and speak with me. I will also be sending frequent reports to the debt collectors on your location.' Now, I would hate to see your lovely assistant get caught in the crossfire, wouldn't you?"** The mandrill's eyes bored into the Slug Sannin's.

Tsunade was stunned. The sensei she knew was soft and spoke softly. This threat was strong and he had the power to back it up. And as much as she hated to admit it, she did care for Shizune and didn't want her to get killed. She bowed her head in defeat. "Very well."

**"Now I have a message for you from me!"** the woman looked up at this. **"Asante sana Squash banana, Wiwi nugu Mi mi apana!"** The primate cackled.

"What the hell does that mean?" Tsunade demanded.

**"It means you are a baboon! And I am not!"**

Tsunade shook her head. "I think you hit your head when you were young."

**"That I did, but I know who I am! You do not know yourself!"** the mandrill poked. **"I am the Monkey Elder for the Monkey summons, but I know I am a monkey and I face my troubles with my stick! The question is; who are you?"** He prodded her forehead as he asked the last question.

"I am Tsunade Senju, Slug Queen of the Sannin and Legendary Medic!"

**"Nuh-uh! That is what you are! I asked who you are! Tink about it and tell Hiruzen when you see him! And meet Jiraiya at Tanzaku Town in 2 days time and remember!"** the mandrill chanted as he vanished into a puff of smoke.** "Asante sana Squash banana, Wiwi nugu Mi mi apana!"**

**(A/N: If you can guess who the monkey is and where the quote is from, you get a cookie! You can only get a cookie if you get both correct! And no using Google or any other search engines!)**

Tsunade just stared at the empty place that the primate had resided. "Shizune, pack your things, we are leaving now!"

* * *

_Kumo hot springs_

There is a secret hot spring in Kumo that none know about except a select few. The select few were kunoichi of the highest caliber. Yuugito Nii and the women of Kirabi's team were among the few.

How ever, unknown to the residing females, one sole man had found the spring and was currently scribbling on a note pad with tissues stuffed up his nostrils and a gag to keep his perverted giggles from being heard. He could already see the new book selling out like mad. This man was and is none other than Jiraiya, the Toad Sannin and self-proclaimed super pervert and author of the Icha Icha series.

The mandrill popped up behind the man and watched for a few minutes before quietly snapping pictures for Sandaime before screeching, "Jiraiya's here!"

Jiraiya didn't even have a chance to run from the fury of Nibi and several women.

_One massive estrogen fuelled beat down later_

The mandrill poked the twitching body of Jiraiya with a stick. "Did you run into Kami at some point and gain invincibility from the beat down of women? Cuz I haven't seen a beat down like that since Tsunade-chan caught you peeping on her?" the primate shook his head as the Sannin attempted to answer. "Don't know, don't care. Be at Tanzaku Town in 2 days or Sarutobi will revoke your travel rights and put you in the Bingo Book and send hunter nin after you. Ciao!"

* * *

**36 hours later**

Tsunade and Shizune were waiting outside the gates that faced the direction of Konoha as a large toad crashed on to the road. Jiraiya looked at the blonde. "Crazy monkey?"

Tsunade nodded. "Carried a large walking stick?"

"Yep. He interrupted my research."

"He threatened me with debt collectors."

Jiraiya nodded. "Let's find out what the old man wants. Hop on."

* * *

_Konoha Gates_

Kotetsu and Izumo were lounging at their posts when a large toad landed in front of them and dispersed, revealing the two Sannin and Shizune. Jiraiya looked at the two perpetual chuunin. "Do we even need to check in?"

Izumo checked for transformations and/or genjutsus and only found the one on Tsunade that covered her age. "Nope, go ahead."

After a short walk, they entered the Hokage tower and were shown in by the secretary. Both felt a chill go down their spines as they gazed upon the new Hokage. Gone was the weak old man that they thought had become of him. This was the Kami of shinobi, the Professor, the man knowledgeable in over almost every known jutsu, and the man that had survived 2 Great Wars. "Tsunade, Jiraiya, it's a pleasure to see you both." The old man said in a steely voice.

"What do you want, Sensei?" Tsunade asked with barely restrained venom. She jumped a foot in the air when he answered with greater venom and steel.

"Simple. I need you both here more than I need the two of you mucking around in the world." Both began to speak but were silenced by the killing intent he unleashed. "Now both of you sit down and shut up. Shizune, be a dear and go find Danzou and tell him this phrase, 'the wayward souls have come. Gather the Outcasts.'" Shizune nodded slightly worried but his eyes assured her she would be fine. "He knows what it means. He should be in his office by now."

Shizune turned and left as Tsunade rounded on Sarutobi with fire in her eyes. "Why the hell are you sending her to that war-hawk?"

"Some things have changed in Konoha, Tsunade. I'm pretty sure Jiraiya has heard of at least one or two rumors about a group of kids running around and doing missions."

Jiraiya looked at the man in shock. "What do they have to do with us?"

"Practically everything. The kids are the main team of a new group I formed named the Outcasts. Members are specifically people that are outside the usual circles of social protocol."

Jiraiya slumped. "Damn, old man. What did you do to them?"

"Nothing. Their sensei did that." Sarutobi allowed a smirk to grace his face.

Tsunade rounded on her teammate. "What have you heard?"

"There are is a rumor going around saying that someone hired a group of shinobi to get rid of a pirate that was harassing his boats. The kids left one evening and returned about 2 days later sailing the pirate's ship and all of the crew and the captain was hanging upside down on the hull, all alive. The captain was a missing nin from Water Country. He was listed as an A-class but was probably more of a B-class threat. He managed to steal a couple of important documents from the Mizukage before leaving." Jiraiya stared at the older man with tired eyes. "Those kids are strong."

"Your godson is the leader of the team."

Both Sannin bolted upright at this. Jiraiya was the first to recover. "Are you off your rocker?"

"No." Hiruzen replied. "He approached me one evening with the idea of creating a secondary team in case we need it. After a talk, Danzou and I discovered that it was Kyuubi that suggested the idea. Now before you protest," he raised a hand to stall them from shouting out. "Kyuubi is looking for a chance to redeem herself. So she is helping people who need friends."

Tsunade spoke in a disbelieving voice. "Kyuubi is a female?"

"Hai." This sent Tsunade into a little victory dance in chibi mode. "The project is for internal affairs should ANBU fail. The civilian council is getting too big for their britches and more than likely has several ANBU under their greasy fingers. They are to work side by side with ROOT, which has been reactivated under my order and is to work in the shadows. With luck, they'll never need to mobilize. Now," the man leaned back and steepled his hands. "I didn't just call you back here for this news. I have missions for you both. Tsunade, your dream of having a medic nin on teams will be initiated at the next council meeting and you will be put in charge of the hospital. Rebuild it from the ground up. I want new reports coming in here in a month."

Tsunade sat up and got excited. The medic nin idea was brought forward in a time of war and they didn't have the resources to fund it. Now that it was peace time, it was the perfect chance to start.

"Jiraiya, Naruto has shown an interest in seals and has already mastered all of the published books on sealing and wishes to study under you further. He isn't aware of his parentage yet, but I intend to tell him after he graduates and give him his inheritance."

Jiraiya looked up at this. "Then why is he doing missions?"

"Like I said, this is a separate team. Akane, or Kyuubi, has trained them and Danzou supplied small missions such as bandit extermination and hostage rescue that ROOT located before someone could send in the mission request. They do it quietly and never show their identity, but rumors go around anyways."

"Ah, they are that strong?"

"At the moment they are high Chuunin level. The training is to allow them to have jounin level skills while being genin. They operate within the system and hid their true skills. Only under extreme circumstances do they reveal their skills. And even then the battles have to be away from the others. This is a delicate project. Jiraiya, I also want you to find a way to get all of your information sent here and to set up a spy network in Konoha. Danzou has his but I want a second opinion on anything he finds. I want results in 2 weeks." Jiraiya nodded. "Alright, I do believe that it is time for you to meet the group." Sarutobi stood and motioned for them to follow. "Ruki, I'll be out for the next hour. Push back any appointments within that time period."

"Hai, Lord Hokage."

Sarutobi lead them out to the lower levels of the tower. Stopping at the space between two spaces, he bit his thumb and swiped it along the wall. Seals appeared and revealed a passage way. The old Hokage led them down the passage way. "Danzou set this up to lead to the training grounds of ROOT."

"How have you managed to keep anyone from finding out?" Tsunade inquired.

"It was hard at first. We had to raise their chakra levels to ANBU level to get them to make super charged shadow clones. One of Akane's ideas. After that, we just leave those to fill the other's lives." Hiruzen opened the door to the main training ground. The group stood, still in their 'civilian' clothes. "Hinata had to really charge hers due to the spars she has to do with her family."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "You recruited the heirs of the Akamichi, Aburame, and Hyuuga for this?"

"We are outcasts outside of here." Shino answered. "I am because of my clan tradition of sharing our bodies with beetles. Chouji is due to his 'fluff' as we call it. Hinata is the black sheep of the Hyuuga clan. And Naruto is the village pariah. We don't have a social life outside of the Academy, or our clans, and in Hinata's case in the clan as well."

"Did you actually take a pirate ship?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

Naruto nodded excitedly. "Yep. I need more experience with making seals if we want to do what we want."

"Well," Tsunade rubbed her hands together. "Let's pull the wool over the village's eyes, shall we?"

* * *

_Later_

Naruto was extremely bored in the Academy class room. He already learned this with Akane and by the looks of the others they were bored as well. He yawned. Then a voice entered his head.

And it wasn't Akane.

'It is time.'

Intense burning erupted in his body, causing him to convulse and shout out in pain. As his head hit the floor, he could hear Hinata's whisper and Iruka's shout as his world faded to black.

* * *

Ja ne!


	4. Chapter 4: Connections and Graduation

**Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one if you give a donkey's ass about it.**

* * *

Tsunade looked over the monitors and sighed. Naruto was in a coma for no apparent reason for several days. Akane had mentioned that he had a bloodline, but didn't know what it was. Sarutobi had passed on the reasoning, but no one knew what it would do or when it would awaken.

After Iruka dropped the boy off, he had to capture Hinata to keep her from fussing over the unconscious boy. But after class was let out, the scarred chuunin went to untie her and found that she had shredded the ropes and was gone already. As Tsunade looked over the medical charts, she could feel the anxiety from the three hidden teammates behind her. They had grown very close, closer than most genin groups would normally be with the exception of the Ino-Shika-Cho team. All of them were protective of each other, especially of Hinata. They would go out of their way to keep her from crying and would buy her a couple dozen of fresh cinnamon rolls to bribe her for a favor or just as a gift. Choji would get gift cards for bar-b-que and while they were on missions, they would pick up rare insects for Shino to breed with. Some he would reject, but they understood his reasoning. Naruto received the least in the group. The others felt bad and wanted to get him gifts, but they didn't know what to get him other than ramen gift cards. Akane told them that they had already given him a present he was eternally grateful for.

_Flashback no Jutsu!_

_Akane was sitting with Hinata, Shino, and Choji while Naruto was running up a tree on the other side of the clearing for training his chakra control. "You all already gave him something. Something he has wanted for most of his life."_

_"What?" Choji asked._

_"The one thing all jinchuuriki desire, but can never get: Acceptance and acknowledgement. You accept him and his 'burden' and don't care that he is that way. You also acknowledge him and know who he is." Akane smiled sadly. "Jinchuuriki have been seen as outcasts since the time of the Shodai Hokage. But in order to gain acceptance, they are forced to hide their status and don a mask to hide the biju. Some, like the jinchuurikis of Gobi, Yonbi and Nanabi are only thought of as weapons and are forced to live outside their villages. They don't know the feeling of acceptance. To Naruto, you are all family 'or more'." She explained then thought, knowing of his growing feelings toward Hinata. The knucklehead hasn't even noticed it yet. "You are someone he can turn to if he feels down and wants someone to talk to. So to him, you gave him the world and then some."_

_Flashback Kai!_

Choji had brought several bowls of Naruto's favorite ramen to let the aroma make him feel more comfortable. Shino would use his bugs to gently massage the boy's muscles. It was actually very relaxing after you got over the feeling of insects crawling over your body. Hinata bought several bouquets of flowers and placed them on his bed side. Hiruzen and Danzou simply bought him get well cards. Reactor and Kaito made time and dropped by to talk to him and tell him about happenings in the outside world.

But inside Naruto's head, it was a completely different matter.

* * *

_Naruto's Mind; Present time_

Naruto awakened to find himself in front of a temple similar to the shrines located around Fire Country. Standing, he entered the temple to find pillars of jade dragons lifting up the roof. In the center of the temple, there was a pit of some sort of water and a pedestal on the opposite side from the door. 9 pillars of crystal surrounded the center, each with a different symbol engraved into it. Being the person that he is, Naruto was bouncing around the place, examining every little detail until a voice stopped him.

**"Young dragon, you have finally awakened."**

Naruto turned to see an azure western dragon that looked as though it had seen better days. The membrane was torn in places and the armor that the dragon wore was battered and cracked. Ram-like horns circled beside the head as the dragon looked at the curious boy with an odd look in his eyes. "Who are you?" Naruto asked. "And why did you call me 'young dragon'?"

**"I am the Chronicler and the last remnant of a long forgotten age. And I called you 'young dragon' because that is exactly what you are: a young dragon."** Amusement twinkled in the dragon's eye.

"I'm a dragon?" Naruto yelped.

**"Half dragon to be precise. But we must move on. My time runs short."** Naruto looked up at this. **"You are the last living person that has the potential to bring back the dragons. As such, you are to unlock the powers of the elements sealed deep with in you."**

"Dammit! Stupid shinobi and hating-"

**"They didn't seal it. The elements are naturally sealed. You must unlock them in order for you to use them."** His body faded slightly.** "Hmm, I thought I had more time. Moving on, you will have 5 forms, each being able to use a different set of elements. I have left recordings of describing each the elements and the danger of using their power untrained and untested. For now, only one element and one form will be unlocked."** One of the pillars shattered, revealing a large hour glass with blue sand running through it. **"Time is a fragile thing. Break one strand, and everything can unravel. The only ability that we dragons can do with it is slow it down and perhaps stop it with enough training. Tread carefully with this power. Time is not to be tinkered with. Disastrous consequences will happen and you will be the most affected by them. Use this power only as a last resort and if the time calls for it. Do you understand?"**

"Hai, sensei." Naruto nodded.

**"Hmmm, sensei. It has a certain ring to it. Alas, I won't be able to enjoy that luxury."** To emphasize the point, his body faded further. **"Should you become lost in your path, search for the Hourglass. It is my symbol. You will find a safe haven there. And now, I have a task for you."**

"Hai?"

**"Do not speak of me or of this task to anyone, not even your tenant. I want you to go, and during your travels find caches of my books. Find these books and they will begin to fill in the book shelves in here. None will tell you of how to harness the other elements."** The elderly dragon added as he saw Naruto's face light up only to fall.** "That is a journey of self-discovery. There are many ways to find the element, each vastly different from the last. Do not read these books, for some are still being written and even more are barely beginning. Each book holds a plethora of information that is devastating in the wrong hands. The books will be protected heavily, only you will be able to touch and find them. Now there is but one task remaining. In the forgotten time of the dragons, the color of the dragon represented the element they could harness. According to the past, your color should be purple. However, I think we can tweak the rules just this once, don't you think?"**

Naruto nodded.

**"Very well. Young dragon, what color do you wish to be?"**

Naruto mulled over ideas in his mind. Orange was a good color, but he wore it constantly due to his 'mask' and it was an eyesore. Then his thought's drifted to something Akane had said.

_Flashback no Jutsu!_

_"One of the things that astound me the most, Naru-chan, is your capacity for forgiveness. You really have a heart of gold. Never lose sight of that."_

_Flashback Kai!_

The blonde looked up at the sky blue dragon and said with finality. "Gold. I wish to be gold."

**"Oh? And if I may ask, why?"**

"Akane once told me that I have a heart of gold and to never forget it. In a way, this is my way of keeping it alive. Plus, it means a new start for me."

The Chronicler nodded. **"Very well. Now, I must bid you farewell. My time is up."**

Just before his body faded from existence, Naruto cried out. "Wait, what is your name?"

**"My name, young dragon, is Ignitus. May the Ancestors look after you."** With that, Ignitus faded from existence and Naruto was catapulted out of his mindscape.

* * *

_Konoha General Hospital, Room 37, current time_

Naruto's eyes blurred as he opened them to find that he was in the hospital. Running a system's check, he found that his chakra was denser and wilder than before. He mentally groaned. That only meant one thing; his chakra control was shot straight to hell. Stretching his senses, he found that the other members of the Outcasts were talking quietly nearby. Naruto felt a different tug on his chakra and multiple whispers entered his ears. Said whispers got louder and louder before he mentally shouted, 'Make it stop!'

His chakra flared briefly and startled the other occupants. Naruto opened his eyes fully to see them halfway out of their seats to check him. They seemed to be moving in slow motion. Naruto blinked and flared his chakra the same way it did before while raising a fist to meet Choji's stomach. The result was instant. Everything sped back up and Choji's belly got a rather close introduction with Naruto's fist, knocking the wind out of him. "Sorry, Choji, I was testing something."

Choji looked up and wheezed. "It's ok."

"How are you feeling, Naruto?" Shino asked.

"Sore. How long was I out?"

"5 days. You collapsed in the middle of class. Is everything alright?" Hinata fussed over him.

He gently waved her off. "Yeah, but now I have more training to do. A lot more training." He looked around. "Where's Akane-chan?"

"She's talking with Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, and Hokage-dono." Shino supplied. "You gave us all quite a scare there, Naruto. What happened?"

"Fetch them and Danzou. This affects us all." Choji and Hinata volunteered to fetch them while Shino inspected Naruto more with his beetles to make sure that he was alright. After about a half hour, everyone was in his room. Akane was acting like Hinata, fussing over him like a mother hen over her chick. "Easy, Akane-chan, I'm fine. But I have news."

"What happened?" Sarutobi asked.

"My blood line has partially awakened." Naruto simply stated. "This is what I know: I am a half dragon thanks to the bloodline and I have 4 forms I can shift into. I think there are elements I can harness as well, but I woke up before I could investigate."

Everyone took the news differently. The older shinobi looked at each other in contemplation. Naruto was the sole survivor of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans. That qualified him for the CRA. However, the civilian council would fight tooth and nail to keep him from entering. But with the blood line, he was in the clear. Now there was the problem of his potential wives. Shortly after Jiraiya and Tsunade's return, they both took up their godparent roles as best they could to help him. For example, he would go home to his shitty apartment, and hidden inside was a shadow clone of either Tsunade or Jiraiya that would then shunshin him away to the Senju estates. Now, if anyone wanted to be Naruto's wife, they would have to go through Tsunade. But to even get that far, they would have to reveal Naruto's heritage, something Hiruzen was hoping to do after his graduation. They may be able to pull it off as long as they could get Naruto to not show off his newly acquired bloodline.

With his teammates, Hinata was already aware of the CRA. She was sad that she would have to share him should she manage to get up the courage to approach him and Tsunade. And then there was her father and the clan elders to get through as well.

Shino and Choji were both slightly green with envy, but they knew that out of all of them, Naruto deserved this the most. He had put up with a lot of shit in his life, and he came out of it mostly unscathed. Naruto was the one who needed the most love in his life, and the CRA was one way of doing that. Of course they would have to go through them to get that far.

There was one common thought among the men in the room excluding Naruto. And that was:

_'Lucky bastard.'_

* * *

_Unknown Location, Present time_

Screams of pain echoed through out the room as 2 figures stood out in a field of blood and corpses. One was screaming for all his might as the spiral bone 'spear' tore through his body. The wielder however was impassive.

Kimimaro Kaguya was born and raised for one purpose: to kill his enemies and the Kaguya clan's enemies. However, after a time, he began to yearn for something more, to be free. Even now, he wanted to clean his hands of the blood of the people he had killed. But with the declaration of war from his clan to Water Country, he would soon be forced to fight in a battle that he did not wish to be a part of. Now, Kimimaro was doing the world a favor and removed an evil.

"Why, Kimimaro, why?" the man sputtered as blood poured out of his mouth.

Kimimaro leaned in and whispered. "Sometimes a branch is the one who cuts down a tree. All the branch needs is a weapon. Ponder that in hell, _otou-san_." With that, he roughly pulled his bone spear out of his relative's gut and reabsorbed the bone. Flicking through some hand signs, he opened various seals that held an accelerant for what he was about to do. The liquid spun with red tint as it flooded the clan houses from the very attics to the basements, even the grounds. Kimimaro let one rivulet of the accelerant pass him by before flipping through hand signs again and muttering, "Katon: Endan." He blew a small fireball from his lips and directed it towards the stream. It immediately flared as the flames raced along the fastest path provided by the accelerant. Kimimaro never looked back as his clan compound became a blaze that would be seen for miles.

_'Now, to find that group. What was their name?'_ Kimimaro was thinking of a group of people that had managed to stop a pirate and his crew with out spilling any blood. He mulled over his memories of the rumors he had heard when he was doing a mission. A small smile graced his lips. _'That's right, they were called the Outcasts.'_

* * *

_Kusagakure, Slums_

Two shivering bundles of cloth were burrowed in a manure pile left by the street cleaners. While it was digusting, given their current predicament it was their best option for staying out of the rain. Plus they could always jump into a stream or two. One bundle's hood fell, revealing dull red hair on her head.

Tayuya was by no means a weak girl. Being 13 years old and already gaining her feminine figure, she was hounded by lechers and drunken perverted men that wanted her to spend the night with her. As she grew up, she listened to many sailors talk and could curse and cuss as colorfully as anyone of them. She wielded a flute given to her by a traveling shinobi that used genjutsu through that flute. After the shinobi taught her enough to get by, she took her leave. Tayuya then bounced around from orphanages until she met one Tsuchi Kin. A fellow orphan, Kin was picked on constantly for crying when something went wrong or when she was upset. With Tayuya's help, she managed to grow out of that stage. After several weeks, Tayuya was thrown out of the orphanage due to her 'sailor's mouth'. Kin left as well, not wanting to leave her friend alone. Kin learned a little bit about genjutsu from Tayuya and managed to gain several small bells from a near by shrine. Between the two of them, they kept themselves safe and alive.

But now.

They hadn't eaten for several days. They drank from nearby streams as often as they could, but that only did so much. As the rain pounded around them, Tayuya's eyes slowly closed, wondering if she was going to die in that manure pile.

Kami, however, had a different plan.

Tayuya heard footsteps. A feminine voice was heard, but she could barely hear the words now. A masculine voice sounded his agreement, and Tayuya's mind faded to unconsciousness as she felt 2 strong arms encircle her and lift her up.

* * *

_7 days later, ROOT training grounds_

Naruto landed with a grunt of exhertion. He had managed to get about half of his previous control back by fielding massive amounts of shadow clones and ordering them to do the tree climbing exercise. Akane made him practice his other arts, but he primarily focused on regaining his control. He also tried to summon the first form Ignitus had hinted at, but nothing appeared. The time thing never occurred again when he flared his chakra similar to the way he did it in the hospital.

Brushing the dust off, he looked at the time to find that he had to run or he would fail the graduation test. After flipping through seals, he shunshined behind the tree in the academy yard. He sent chakra into a seal and with a poof of smoke he was wearing his 'kill me now' orange jumpsuit. He gritted his teeth as he made it through the door just as the bell rang. After this was over, he was so going to have a burning of the jumpsuits party. Sitting in his usual spot in the back, he made subtle movements to wish his teammates good luck.

Mizuki was cackling evilly in his mind. He had just put a genjutsu over the 'demon's' test. This would help with making him fail.

Naruto shook his head slightly at the vain attempt to make him fail. He pushed his chakra into the genjutsu and wrote answers that would put him in the middle of the group. He wasn't dead last (That was Kiba), but he didn't shine either. After 45 minutes, Iruka came around and gathered the tests. Mizuki silently fumed that the 'demon' managed to break the genjutsu. 1 chance down, 3 more to go.

After the written test, they moved out to the weapons test. As people went up and threw, Naruto made discreet hand signs to his team to loosen the masks during the ninjutsu portion of the test. Receiving confirmations, he turned to see Sasuke Uchiha getting ready to throw. He massaged his ears as Sakura's shrieks of her love for Sasuke nearly deafened the entire group. Yup, she was related to howler monkeys. He wondered if her dad screwed one. Sasuke managed to score 9 on the shuriken throwing and 10 on the kunai throwing. The duck butt turned and sneered at the blonde. "Beat that dobe."

Oh, now it was on! Naruto stepped up and asked Iruka, "Ne, Iruka sensei, do the targets have to be there?"

Iruka blinked. "No, but if you do move them, I want to make sure you don't make it easier for you to pass."

"Okay!" Naruto sprinted off and in 3 minutes all of the targets were shifted to nearly impossible positions. One was even hidden behind one of the training posts and one was on the far side of a tree!

The majority of the group snickered. There was no way the class clown was going to pass this.

Naruto palmed the needed shuriken and kunai with a murmured 'arigatou' to the scarred chuunin. He stood still and breathed deeply as he closed his eyes. Taking another deep breathe, he leapt into the air and threw the first set of kunai and shuriken. Not even pausing he twisted in midair and let loose more shuriken and kunai at the targets. He landed catlike and stood up and brushed himself off. Turning, he was greeted with shocked expressions and wide eyes. "What?"

Iruka was walking back over with an amused glint in his eyes. "Excellent job, Naruto. You got 10 out of 10 for both kunai and shuriken throwing, giving you the best score out of everyone so far."

"NO WAY! HE MUST HAVE CHEATED!" everyone winced at the volume of Sakura's scream.

Mizuki gritted his teeth. "As much as I hate to say it, there was no way he could have cheated."

Iruka frowned slightly at his fellow teachers comment. "I agree with Mizuki. Next, Ino Yamanaka." After Ino scored 8/10 and 6/10, the teachers cleared the field and pulled out new clipboards. "Next up is the taijutsu test. You will spar against either Mizuki or myself. No jutsus allowed and in order to pass you must last 3 minutes against us or knock us out."

Shino was the first to go and easily passed. The same was with Choji and Hinata. Ino made it past 2 minutes, Sakura didn't make it past 1, Kiba barely missed the limit and Shikamaru used his Shadow Possesion jutsu to stop Iruka midstride. Sasuke fought against Mizuki, who pulled his punches on Sasuke. Naruto muttered mentally about stuck up pricks and stupid emo lovers. Hearing his name called, he stood in front of Mizuki calmly. He nodded at Iruka, who started the timer.

Mizuki didn't waste any time. He charged forward as he unleashed a powerful kick. Naruto just stood there with a smirk on his face. At the last possible second, Naruto ducked under the leg and unleashed a head butt on Mizuki. (A/N: for an idea on how strong the head butt was, look up the Anime Air Gear and look for the episode when Ikki was fighting that dog helmet wearing team and refer to the leader of said team.) Mizuki was sent flying backwards and landed on his ass. As the dust settled, Mizuki could be seen with a dazed look, but other wise out cold. Naruto snickered at that and winced slightly at the force he put behind that blow. He was going to have a migraine later. Iruka wafted some smelling salts to wake up Mizuki. The grey haired chuunin was pissed that he got taken out with such a simple blow, but hid it carefully. He smirked silently to himself. He wouldn't be able to pass the ninjutsu portion. The thing could barely form a Clone!

Iruka brought the group into the class room and guided Shino into the other room for the ninjutsu portion. As time went on, Shino, Choji and Hinata all passed. Naruto just sat nonchalantly until Iruka called for his name. Getting up, he made his way into the other class room. "Alright Naruto, you need to perform Kawarimi, Henge, and Bunshin no jutsu and any other you wish to add for extra credit."

Naruto then henged into his Oiroke form, creating nosebleeds from both Iruka and Mizuki. Iruka threw an eraser at Naruto only to get hit with it after Naruto substituted with him. After switching places, Naruto asked. "Ne, Iruka-sensei, Would it be possible to do a variation of the Bunshin?"

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "Certainly."

Naruto nodded and formed his favorite hand seal. "**Kage bunshin no jutsu**!" there was and explosion of smoke and 10 Kage Bunshins stood in front of them. "Ne, is this enough?"

Iruka nodded and marked something down on his sheet. Mizuki looked at him incredulously. "You're not seriously passing him?"

"He created 10 perfect copies of himself, Mizuki." Iruka reasoned. "The rules only say to form a Bunshin, not what kind. Now, do you have any extra credit jutsus you wish to perform?"

Naruto nodded. "Hai, but I think I need more room than this to do it." Iruka nodded and lead him outside and made a Shadow clone to help test the jutsu. Flipping through 10 hand seals, he shouted, "**Doton: Nidhoggr's Wrath**!" A serpent of rock and earth appeared. Facing the now terrified Shadow Clone, it sprouted two arms and began to drag its body to it. The clone turned to run, but screamed in fear as suddenly it felt the jaws of the jutsu engulf him. Iruka winced as the Bunshin's memories came to him. He handed Naruto a head band. "No, I want to personalize it." Iruka simply quirked an eyebrow as Naruto wrote what he wanted done with it.

"Alright, Naruto, but keep this one for now until yours is done."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

He was taking his first step towards becoming Hokage.

* * *

**Ja ne!**


	5. Chapter 5: New Teams and One Traitor

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other series mentioned in this story.**

* * *

Naruto smiled into his drink as the Outcasts celebrated their ascension in the shinobi ranks. Hinata was sipping her drink quietly while Choji and Shino dug into the food set out for them courtesy of the ROOT cooks. Shino had struck up a different deal with his beetles rather than going with his clan's standard deal. He gave the beetles food, not chakra but actual food, in exchange for being able to use his own chakra for jutsus other than the Academy basics and his clan techniques. It took some time, but now Shino had to eat as much as Choji did in order to uphold his end of the deal.

Akane cleared her throat, getting the attention of the team. **"First off, congratulations go to all of you for passing. You all made your parents proud, though I don't know what goes through Hiashi's head half the time."** Hearing this, Hinata bowed her head slightly. **"But, you all made me proud over these past 4 years."** She smiled at some of the more rowdy memories. **"But I have more news; I will no longer be your sensei."** She raised her hand to stall the arguments. **"Shut up and listen, gakis I don't want to repeat myself and you all know how much I hate sentimental crap. In this form, I am little more than a clone. I can't take part of any missions unless Naruto is there. I have told this to Hiruzen and he agreed. You all have great potential, even more than what I have nurtured to this point. Hinata, you are the interrogator and long distance attacker of the group, but never lose sight of your gentleness and your kind heart. If you can balance both, you can do extraordinary things both on the battlefield and in your home. But the moment I hear you have gone blood thirsty outside of Anko's range; I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish!"**

Hinata shivered and paled at the image.

**"Choji, you are the gentle giant and the fat bastard of the group. Don't even think of trying to pound me into the dust or I will make your worst nightmares come to life. Moving on, your father told you to remember that you have a gentle heart. I'm telling you that with a heart as warm and kind as yours, you will find acceptance in the most unlikely of places, but only if you are willing to go to those places."**

Choji nodded listlessly as he consumed more food.

**"Shino, you are our kenjutsu expert and tracker. You have a cold exterior, but you have a heart yearning to be loved. Open your heart, and love will always find its way in."**

Shino bobbed his head as he 'competed' with Choji to see who could eat the most.

**"Finally, there's Naruto. You are our seal expert aside from Ero-sennin, but above all you are the one who sparked the idea for this group. Gaki, you have great things ahead of you. Stand proud at your achievements and fight to protect your precious people. Always humble yourself, but remember to stand for what you believe in! No matter where you all go, no matter how far, you all are connected."** Akane raised her mug. **"And if you tell anyone outside this room that I can be soft, your asses are mine. Capiche?"**

"Hai, sensei." they all answered in unison.

"To our future endeavors and to past memories!" Naruto called.

"**BANZAI**/BANZAI!" They cried before downing their drinks.

A ROOT agent appeared. "Hokage-sama has called for your team. There has been a break in at the Hokage tower." As he finished, he was talking to an empty room. He muttered under his breath. "They could have at least waited for me to finish."

* * *

_Hokage Tower_

Hiruzen looked at the gathered Outcasts. "Someone has stolen the Forbidden Scroll. They managed to bypass all of the security and get into my office. I want Hinata, Shino and Choji to stay here and find a smell to help us find out our thief's identity. Naruto, I need a word." As the mentioned trio left to gather intel, the aged Hokage sighed. "Naruto-kun, that scroll is very dangerous in the wrong hands. I want you to check all the possible locations someone may be hiding in and see if you can't detain them. I want them alive."

"Hai, Hokage-jiji." With that, Naruto leapt out of the window and summoned an army of clones. "All of you don your masks and search everywhere. 10 of you follow me. Dismissed."

Leaping from roof top to roof top, he saw the chunin and jounin heading for the tower. He shook his head. None of them would be able to find the thief. He saw Iruka running towards him and stopped him. Iruka looked at Naruto as he removed his mask. "What happened?"

"Someone has stolen the Forbidden Scroll. You know the best ways to find a minor seeing how many times you caught me before Outcasts." Iruka nodded at this. "Are there any locations outside the village that you know of?"

"One, maybe two locations."

9 clones dispelled as one of Iruka appeared. "Follow his Shadow clone and check it out." Naruto ordered the clone.

"Got it, Boss."

Iruka quirked an eyebrow at this. "Boss?"

"I have no clue why they call me that." Naruto donned his mask again. "Let's motor."

* * *

Naruto landed in front of the old wooden cabin to see a dust covered girl holding the scroll he was seeking. Looking over her, he recognized her as one of the Academy students that failed the test earlier. "What are you doing way out here this time of night?" he gently asked.

"M-Mizuki-sensei told me about a secret test after I failed."

"What kind of test?" Naruto already knew, but he needed this for the hidden recorder by his ear.

"He told me that I had to s-steal this scroll before the others got to it and come here about 2 hours later. Then h-he gave me the best time to go and the access codes to get in."

Naruto nodded, his mask scaring the girl slightly. It was a demonic looking mask of a dragon, pointing to his bloodline. "Unfortunately, my dear, you were set up, there was and is no make-up test." Seeing her tears, he said, "It's okay. I don't think Hokage-jiji will give you a harsh punishment, but you will get one. Alright?"

There was a hissing sound of metal slicing air. Naruto reacted by grabbing the girl and the scroll and dodging the giant shuriken. However this move dislodged the mask. Naruto cursed silently. He really needed to get his chakra control up.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Uzumaki brat." Mizuki landed on a branch on the opposite side of the clearing. "Out for a late night stroll?"

"Nah, I'm just tracking down traitors and scum of the earth. I'm looking for some one with a major stick up their ass and silver hair. They are also an Academy teacher. Ring any bells?"

"That sounds a lot like me." Mizuki rubbed his chin before a maniacal smirk appeared. "Oh, wait, that is me!"

"Even the stick up the ass part?" Naruto quipped as the girl behind him giggled quietly at the insult.

"Yep, even-Hey!" Mizuki sneered at the laughing duo. Unbeknownst to him, Iruka was laughing a little ways away. "Laugh all you want, but do you know why you are hated?"

"Because I don't have a stick up my ass?" Naruto shot back as both him and the girl behind him started to hold their sides.

"No. There is a law created just after the Kyuubi attack forbidding anyone of speaking of what happened under pain of death."

Naruto grew slightly more serious. "Then you really shouldn't speak of it."

"Too bad! Yondaime didn't kill Kyuubi! He sealed it into a newborn child whose soul was crushed by the beast! That child is you! You are Kyuubi no Yoko!"

Naruto felt the girl behind him tense. He turned to her while keeping Mizuki in sight. "Do you believe him?"

"Ano, I don't…."

"I'll put it this way. Would a demon have protected you from that shuriken?"

"N-No."

"What would a demon have done?"

"They w-would have jumped out of the way and let it kill me."

"Thank you." He turned to Mizuki. "You really need to read a good book on sealing. Kyuubi can't take over unless I open the seal. Even then, it doesn't want to leave!" 'Sorry for calling you an 'it'.'

**'Just kick his ass!'**

"What ever! After I kill you, I'll have my way with the girl behind you and blame it on you when I tell Hokage-sama that I found you in the middle of raping her! Die demon!" He threw another giant shuriken at the two preteens.

Naruto was seeing red. Rage boiled over as he grew angry at this scum. Suddenly, time slowed down and the Chronicler's voice entered his head.** "Dragons are the only entities on the planet to care for all living things. It is only when one threatens or challenges them that they reveal their fangs. We are guardians, not cold blooded killers. Remember this when you summon this form or any of the other forms. Fire is a powerful element. It can destroy homes and ruin priceless artifacts. It can ravage forests and leave only ashes. But it can do more than that. A fire provides warmth on a chilly night. It can sterilize food to make it safe to eat. If controlled properly, fire can even bring new life into the world. It can shield one from the elements. Use this power wisely."**

Just before the shuriken hit, there was an explosion of chakra that sent it careening back at the traitor, who dodged it as it embedded itself into a tree near his left arm. Bones twisted and cracked as Naruto let out a primal roar. Tearing noises could be heard as a tail erupted from his lower back and nearly hit the girl. His face elongated and golden scales appeared on his skin, removing what little clothing he had on after the growth spurt that followed the tail. Spines popped up on his back as his legs shifted to allow him to be bipedal or on all fours. Flexing his hand and examining his 5 claws instead of fingernails, he turned to the stunned chunin and smirked. **"Okay, this I can work with."**

"D-D-Demon!" Mizuki screamed.

**"Okay, that's just insulting. I'm a dragon you imbecile."** He turned to the girl behind him.** "Am I really that scary?"**

Her response was to faint.

**"Damn. Okay Mizuki-teme,"** Naruto twisted to see the chunin. **"Let's dance."**

"Just die, demon! **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**!" Mizuki spat a large fireball at the boy.

Naruto was running on pure instinct now. Opening his mouth, he breathed in and sucked in the incoming fireball. As the flames died, Naruto grinned at the chunin and spat out a fireball 3 times as large as the one that Mizuki shot. The traitor stood in shock as the fireball torched everything in its path. Dodging at the last second, Mizuki winced as he received burns on his left arm and leg. He went offensive, charging the transformed genin and launching a powerful uppercut. Naruto's head went up 2 inches before he looked at the chunin.** "That stung some. Now let me return the favor ten fold! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** There was an explosion of smoke, and soon Mizuki was surrounded by clones of the draconic genin. They were literally everywhere, hanging off of branches and crouching on the ground. One thought came through Mizuki's mind.

_'Fuck.'_

All of the clones cracked their knuckles. **"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!"**

And a clobbering time it was. After the clones dispelled, Mizuki was little more than a twitching mass of flesh. His soul tried to escape out of his mouth as he 'died' once, but the real Naruto grabbed it and forced it back into him before continuing the beating. Iruka looked over the girl as Naruto approached. "He deserved more."

**"Oh, killing him is a mercy. I've taken his 'family jewels'. He's looking at life in prison and I am sure that the inmates are looking for some kind of 'relief'."** Naruto said bitterly. **"He can't even pleasure a woman anymore."**

"And you know how to?" Iruka quipped lightly as he secured the scroll.

Naruto blushed brightly. **"Akane-chan made us read all of the books in the Icha Icha series. I had to scrub my eyes extra hard afterwards. Very enlightening, but I prefer other books."** The 6 foot tall dragon-man rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. **"We did find out that Hinata is similar to Inu-san. She reads it out in the open with no shame, but only when we are on Outcasts' missions. Most men try to hit on her, but she denies them after kicking them in the balls."** Iruka winced at this. **"Now, let's get back to the tower."**

"There's just one problem."

**"What?"**

"How do you change back?"

Naruto froze and began banging his head into the ground while chanting. **"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…"**

Iruka sighed as he lifted the Academy student bridal style. "Stay here. I'll let Hokage-sama know about this."

As he left, Naruto was still chanting and slamming his head into the ground.

* * *

_Hokage Tower_

Hiruzen sighed and sent an ANBU out to bring back the chunin and jounin he fielded. Iruka explained what happened and included the awakening of Naruto's blood line. Hinata, Choji and Shino were already on their way to him. He nodded to Danzou, who entered quietly. The Academy student did get off lightly, but she had several hours of community service ahead of her. "And what was the last thing Naruto did before you left?"

"Slamming his head into the ground and chanting 'fuck' over and over."

"That's Naruto." He turned to Danzou. "What the status of the council?"

"Hiashi is wondering where his daughter is, and the same with Shibi and Chouza but about their sons. Everyone else is wondering if the perpetrator was apprehended."

"And the civilian council?"

"They are saying that Naruto did it and must be killed."

Hiruzen shook his head. "Fucking bastards. Naruto is actually slamming his head into the ground at the moment."

Danzou nodded. "That sounds like him. I'll stall them for now, but you need to change him back before the meeting. They will call for him."

Hiruzen nodded before he shunshined with Iruka to the clearing. Naruto had moved from slamming his head into the earth to slamming it into the cliff behind the cabin. Hinata was trying to pry him away from it while Shino and Choji were looking on in amusement. "Any change?"

"We have made a small betting pool, but we have yet to see who wins." Choji said. They jumped as Naruto slammed his head rather hard, causing the cliff to shake and making a boulder fall and land on his head.

The boulder cracked as Naruto sat on his haunches and rubbed his head. **"Owowowowowowow!"** the dragon whined.** "That hurt!"**

Everyone sweat dropped at the childish dragon. _'And the first thousand head butts didn't?'_

"Naruto-kun, why don't you focus on your human form?" Hiruzen suggested.

Everyone froze. Choji and Shino swore colorfully before pulling out a rather large roll of ryo and tossing it to Hinata. Naruto nodded at the suggestion and settled into the Lotus position.

It took him 3 tries to get it. He managed to shrink to his original height before losing his concentration and went too deep. Akane kicked him out of her area due to the fact that she was skinny dipping when he dropped in. The second time Choji threw an acorn at his forehead. Naruto responded by throwing a fireball at him. The third time he nailed it. When he stood, Hinata was sent flying backwards from the nosebleed she got. She had a dazed smile on her face and was murmuring, "Naruto-kun…naked…." Naruto, being the thick headed guy he is, just shrugged it off and pulled a spare outfit from a seal that wasn't destroyed by his transformation.

Sarutobi cleared his throat. "All of you did an excellent job. Hinata, Choji, and Shino, though you three didn't apprehend the thief, you did identify them and find out how they entered. Naruto, you prevented a child from being scarred for life and the loss of a Konoha treasure. I would commend you all in front of the village, but we must remain in the shadows. The civilian council is calling for Naruto's blood. They believe that Naruto stole it." He raised a hand at their outburst of cries. "It's happened before, but he has managed to get away from it. I'm classifying this incident an SS rank secret. That should stall them, but we now have a new member."

"Kairi." Naruto mused as he said the name of the girl.

"Hai. She will be brought in, but she will have to be on the same team as Reactor-kun. It is unfortunate. Iruka, what did she fail?"

"She failed the taijutsu and the written tests." Iruka reported crisply.

"Ah, then we will have to make that her strong point. I'll let Danzou know. But for now, we have the sharks that are the civilian council to deal with." With that, they shunshined to the doors of the council room. "All of you except for Naruto and Iruka, head home and act natural. We will say that you were with Iruka, who was treating you for passing the exams. Soon you won't have to hide in the shadows. Naruto-kun, Iruka, let's get this over with, shall we?" Naruto changed into his 'kill me now' jumpsuit and quickly handed the others ear plugs designed to use chakra to block out noise. Hiruzen counted down with his fingers before opening the door.

They weren't disappointed.

The entire council was in uproar. The civilians were screaming for Naruto's execution while the clan heads were trying rather hard not to bash their heads into the desks. Of course, Tsume Inuzuka wasn't and was whaling on her desk, leaving a lovely impression of her face there. Danzou was just looking amused with the silencing seals he wore under his bandages.

"SILENCE!" Hiruzen roared while unleashing some KI. Everyone shut up and quivered. "The matter has been resolved. Before you even think of saying that Naruto did it," this sent the civilian council into silence. "He was at his apartment just before the theft occurred and was dining at a food stand with Iruka. His alibi is ironclad."

"Who is the thief then?" Shikaku asked.

"Their identity is classified. The matter is a SS rank secret. Only those involved in the apprehending of the thief know." Hiruzen supplied.

"And who caught them?" one of the civilian council members asked.

"Also classified." He turned to the three worried fathers. "Hiashi, Chouza, and Shibi, your children were eating with Iruka and Naruto when the incident happened. I sent them home after I retrieved Naruto and Iruka. They should be there now. Is there anything else that requires my attention?" the civilian members raised their voices. "that doesn't involve Naruto?" that shut them up. "Very well, you dismissed." He placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and shunshined to his office. He collapsed into his chair while Naruto took his position in a nearby window.

"What did you need?" Naruto said easily from his perch.

"A new council." Hiruzen muttered loud enough for Naruto to hear. "And new tobacco for my pipe."

"I'll put out a request for Zabuza to stop by Iwa and pick up that rare brand I got you last year when he has time."

"Ah, I remember that. It was a special mix, no?"

"It was," Naruto looked deeply at the aged leader. "But that isn't why you have me here, is it?"

"Yes. It's time I told you of your inheritance." Naruto perked up at this. "First, I must apologize that I kept this from you. Your parents wanted me to hold off on telling you until you achieve chunin or become 16. But, they also made a clause saying that if I believe that you are strong enough, I may tell you before either of the previous clauses. Now, I believe that you are ready." Hiruzen stood and went over to his portrait on the wall. "The Hokages of the past have a safe that contains secrets that date back to the Shodai. If you manage to become Hokage, you will have access to said secrets. The identity of your parents is among them." He pulled the piece of art out, revealing a safe with a code pad and a hand scanner. The aged Sarutobi moved so that Naruto wouldn't be able to see the code. After about 10 seconds, Hiruzen turned with a file with the swirl seen on many of the vests that the chunin of Konoha wore. He handed him the file. Naruto opened it and widened as he gently picked up a picture that was there. He looked at the Sandaime with questions and disbelief in his eyes. Hiruzen nodded. "Yes. You look like him, but you have her personality. You also inherited some of their beliefs, though I made sure that you learned them. Keep this a secret."

Naruto nodded and clung to the file like a lifeline. "I will."

"Oh, you are under the CRA."

Naruto froze as he mid-leap out of the window. 'I really should have seen that coming.' He thought as he fell.

* * *

Naruto fidgeted as he sat behind the desk in the classroom. He was finally getting out of there. As Iruka walked in, he couldn't help but think of the new members that they brought in.

Iruka was their scout in the Academy. He was able to look in on classes and determine who was eligible. So far he had found none, but didn't seem upset.

Anko and Ibiki were brought in. Anko was an outcast due to her involvement with Orochimaru. She lived in the Forest of Death, and loved it there. (The Outcasts called it the Forest of Fun. Akane trained them there when they needed an outdoor area to train. The animals didn't bother them at all.) Ibiki was let in because the Hokage and Danzou knew he wouldn't crack under interrogation and was scary even to the civilian council and the rest of the shinobi forces. Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya were aware of the organization's existence, but were not privy to the secrets within. Kairi and Reactor were the back up team until they got 2 more members. Some of the ROOT agents were showing interest, but Danzou was running them through a course to change get their Will of Fire back. It was slow going, needless to say.

He could almost see the team placements. The reason that the 'almost' was there was because he could see the advantages and disadvantages of each team. Choji was more than likely going to be teamed up with Shikamaru and Ino. It would be the second generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho team. Using some of the remaining students, you could form a heavy assault group with him, Sakura and Sas-gay and a tracking heavy team with Hinata, Shino and Kiba. The problem was that missions could fluctuate very quickly and neither team would be able to handle it should one of their weaknesses come into the mission. But you could shift it around and team him or Sas-gay with the tracking team while Kiba joined the assault team. If he was shifted, the Sandiame would have a team of exclusively Outcasts members excluding the jounin leader of course. There were too many variables and not enough information on the other's skills.

Iruka stood and cleared his throat. "Alright, everyone these are your team placements. Team One is…" Naruto began to zone out until Iruka reached team 7. "Team 7 is Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno…"

"HA, IN YOUR FACE INO-PIG!"

"SHUT UP!" Iruka roared using his Big-head jutsu to silence the pink howler monkey/girl. Seriously, all it would take now to prove her monkey genes was if she sprouted a tail and ate bananas. Or maybe her father kidnapped and screwed a siren until she was pregnant. "and Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 is Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki. You have two senseis, Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuhi. Anko-san is to be the back up leader should Kurenai-san be on a separate mission" As he droned on, Naruto noticed that his suspicions about the Ino-Shika-Cho team was correct in the form of team 10. After reading the teams off, Iruka allowed the senseis in. Only Kurenai and a beared man smoking a cigarette who Naruto assumed to be Asuma Sarutobi entered after Iruka left. Hiruzen mentioned him in passing saying that should Naruto ever have problems with wind chakra manipulation, Asuma was the only person who had that element as their primary element.

"Team 8, follow me." Kurenai called. Naruto, Hinata and Shino moved to follow the red eyed jounin. She stood out in front of the Academy entrance. "Before we get to know each other, you have to find me. You have 2 hours to find me and subdue me. Begin." She poofed into a cloud of smoke, revealing that she was a Shadow Clone.

Naruto looked at the others. They formed the hand seal that summoned the Kage Bunshin and were surrounded by and army. The clones broke off into groups of three, one of each person and scattered. They sat in the lotus position and waited. It took the clones 10 minutes to find the sensei hidden behind a genjutsu in a small café near the training grounds. Moving quickly, they moved in on their sensei.

Kurenai hoped that they passed. Kakashi had tried to fight for Naruto for a student saying that he was competitive with Sasuke and that they would drive each other to get better. The Sandaime denied him this, saying that then between team 7 and team 8 the teams would be overpowered in their respective fields. Her thought process was cut short as she sensed another genjutsu over the one that she was hidden with.

She moved to release it, but Naruto's voice said softly. "I wouldn't do that. The genjutsu we cast is keeping the populace from freaking out." Naruto slowly revealed that Kurenai was wrapped in a chain with blades on it. Looking to her left and to her right, she found that Shino and Hinata were wearing gauntlets similar to the Oni brothers from Kirigakure. Naruto stood on the table in front of her with a large zanbato inches from her throat. She realized that if she so much as twitched, she could be killed in 2 different ways. Naruto gave a small smile as realization appeared in her eyes. "On the plus side, Hinata managed to learn the jutsu that hunter nins use to pull out information from dead bodies."

"Okay, you all pass." She shivered as the chain, gauntlets and zanbato vanished. "Where the heck did you get those weapons?"

"Seals." Naruto said. "It's something I embedded in our armor. Did Jiji tell you about us?"

Kurenai nodded. "I have to say that I half hoped that he was yanking my chain. But I guess that he wasn't."

Naruto nodded and they placed their orders. Team Outcast was now formed.

* * *

**Kyuu: and that is chapter 5! Voting for the harem has closed for now. Reasoning will be explained within the next week. But for now, here are the numbers:**

**Tayuya: 11**

**Kin: 12**

**Yakumo: 7**

**Isaribi: 7**

**Fuu: 12**

**Guren: 5**

**Ayame: 6**

**Samui: 6**

**Shion: 11**

**Sasame: 5**

**Amaru: 6**

**Hana: 4**

**Ten-ten: 10**

**Koyuki: 4**

**Yugito: 4**

**Karin: 4**

**Hotaru: 4**

**Hanabi: 4**

**Haruna: 1**

**From what it appears, Kin, Tayuya, Shion, and Fuu are in the harem. You all voted and this is the results! For the girls that didn't make it, sorry! I have no comments other than read and review!**

**Ja ne!**


	6. Chapter 6: Purge the Leaf part 1

***Dramatic music plays. Kyuu appears is an explosion of flame and of doves.***

**Kyuu: And I am back, all of my faithful readers! I apologize for the hiatus, but the needs of the Navy come before my own! Boot camp was hell and entertaining. It was hell because I was away from all of you! Entertaining because of some of the things that would happen. But enough reminiscing, it's fucking review time for chapter 5 and the replies for the hiatus! Note some of the responses will be to 2 different reviews.**

**To Nightshadegirl: I did get your pm, but I left for Basic shortly after. She will be introduced at a time of my choosing, but it won't be a pretty beginning.**

**To Leaf Ranger: ok, I did not do this before but…**

***Massive Fan mode* OMFG! **_**THE**_** LEAF RANGER IS REVIEWING MY STORIES! *squeals like a fan girl and jumps up and down***

***recomposes* had to get that off my chest. Semi big fan, loved your "Legend of Naruto" story. Hated the ending, but loved it otherwise.**

**With the harem, I personally don't like Shion, primarily because I don't know too much about her other than she is a priestess that foresaw Naruto's death. I'll need to more research into her. I read your rant and agree with you, but Kishimoto probably had a good reason to do what he did. *mumbles* even if he kept and is keeping Hinata from being with Naruto. *Speaks louder* Moving forward.**

**To Meck Vicking: Eh, I'll throw Kiba some bones. *snickers* dog pun. Anyways, I don't mind if you complain, but I have a habit of wanting to please everyone, which lead to (in my eyes at least) how badly ****The Hidden Village of Dragons**** is. Story line is choppy and doesn't flow. I was trying to cram too many ideas in it and didn't know how to write it.**

**To donovan123456789: I said it before and I'll say it again, but the stupid cliffys made you want more, right?**

**To Chewie Cookies: Again, getting this off my chest…**

***Massive fan mode* OMFG! CHEWIE COOKIES IS READING MY STORIES AND REVIEWING THEM! *Squeals and calms down***

**To answer your question, at the time I was writing the chapter, I was playing Kingdom Hearts 2 for the Playstation 2. Finally managed to beat it too. Stupid water nobody was hard for me and I kept failing the 'kill 10 water clones in 10 seconds' part of that boss battle. So she is based off of Kairi of Kingdom Hearts, but is not from Kingdom Hearts, ne?**

**To brown phantom: to be honest, I was going to have Naruto just find these things out by himself, but gave in to the idea of something helping him. The Chronicler will be making one more appearance, but it will not be until the Chunin Exams or a little after if my idea goes through and he will not be anything more than an image (maybe). And I agree with you on the harem. No, you're not wrong. Looking back over the reviews reminded me of something I'll rant about at the end of the chapter.**

**To Dragon Man 180: they will humiliate Sas-gay in future missions. I plan on doing the Wave Arc a little differently than the usual 'Zabuza and Haku lives and joins the leaf or become Mist nins again' plot that some writers follow.**

**Meck Viking: all I can say to you, my friend is Semper Fortis.**

**Donovan123456789: This isn't a sudden thing. From September of last year to when I posted the haitus notice I was in the Delayed Entry Program. I didn't want to worry any of you and feel the pressure of putting out more chapters than I was able to. I apologize, but I need money and don't really want to go to college. At the time, I thought my grades in high school were not good enough to get into college, so I decided to go military.**

**ChaoticPsyche: Hooyah Navy! I think that they took away the stress card, cuz I was not offered it and neither did my friends in my recruit division. It was fun and torture. I say torture, cuz you don't realize how different you are from different regions. I'm from Minnesota-Wisconsin and it is very different from, say Texas. Or maybe it was the way I was raised. Idk.**

**Loveoflife: well, Here I am!**

**Leonineus: *Starts sweating profusely* Um, it wasn't from your preview of Naruto: Shinigami's Chosen! Nope not at all! And while you try to chew on me, I tend to bite back for example: update The Rinnegan Maelstrom! It's a good story and your writing muse better get back to you or I will sic Anko or Bee and Chronos from ****The Hidden Village of Dragons**** on you!**

**Gaiseric: I'll answer both of your reviews in one go. They will be monitoring everything that the ANBU can't touch and can touch. This will be explained in this chapter as to how it is being done. I find that if you set the foundation right, the rest of the story can come rather easily.**

**Evilkitten3: I won't die. The Silent Service has not lost a ship in battle since WWII.**

**Grand-Lord-Of-Khaotic-Bullshit: I thank you for the forms and will let you know at a later time.**

**And now, without further ado, here is the long awaited 6****th**** chapter of Outcasts!**

* * *

In the tranquil forest, birds chirped happily at each other. Chipmunks and squirrels chattered like rodents do. A butterfly glided daintily to a flower, lightly fluttering it's wings as it landed. It soon took flight as a body of a kunoichi landed where it had been not even a nanosecond earlier.

The kuniochi in question cursed colorfully and flipped herself upwards to meet several kunai and shuriken heading straight for her. She ducked and darted into the underbrush, trying to throw off her pursuers. Moving in a zigzag pattern, she bobbed and weaved through the forest. Sprinting around a random tree, she was forced to show off her incredible flexibility by bending backwards so far that one could have sworn that she broke her back in order to dodge a blade from slicing her in half.

By doing this, she accidently pushed her rather ample breasts outwards prominently, causing one of her pursuers to get blown backwards by a nosebleed and vanish into a puff of smoke. Not staying to see the damage, she nimbly rolled right, and began sprinting again. This time, the whistling of the wind was the only warning she received as a blade sliced cleanly along her outer thigh and calf. Hissing in pain, the kunoichi rushed out of the tree line and dove through the gate that stood there.

"Time."

Hinata winced as she began to heal the clean cut from Shino's blade. "Not bad, you beat your previous score." Kurenai reported as Shino took off into the undergrowth to find their third member, who more than likely was suffering from extreme blood loss now.

"Ano, I didn't expect Naruto-kun to react that way." She hissed softly as the muscle stitched itself back together.

"It was a chain reaction. Naruto-chan himself only had a slight nosebleed." Kurenai heard Shino reply from the forest. "His other clones, however, suffered from massive nosebleeds and dispelled themselves when they were launched back into various objects." Shino strolled out with Naruto in a fireman's carry. "The constant repeating images of that visual caused him to have an even bigger nosebleed." He nudged the heir of the Dragons, gaining a twitch and a groan. "He'll be out of it for a time." Shino's head jerked up and he stiffened slightly. "One of mine just dispelled. We have a target and some interesting information to take care of."

Kurenai nodded and dismissed the trio for the day. As Shino and Hinata dragged the Outcast team leader away, she shook her head slightly as she looked up to the afternoon sky. Every so often, this would happen. Either Naruto or Hinata acted just like Shino moments ago or Choji appeared and they dropped everything to go do their secret missions. She was never given the details. But she knew they could handle themselves.

Hiruzen reinforced that belief when she had reported the team's successful passing.

_Flashback no Jutsu!_

"_Okay, now that Kakashi has decided to appear," The Sandaime intoned. "Give me your reports. No details, I have items that need my immediate attention."_

"_Team 1 failed."_

"_Team 2 failed."_

"_Team 3 failed."_

"_Team 4 failed."_

"_Team 5 failed."_

"_Team 6 failed."_

_Kakashi looked up for a moment before saying, "Team 7 passed." and promptly returned to his book._

_Kurenai looked at the scarecrow with disgust on her face before reporting. "Team 8 passed."_

_Asuma looked at his father and replied. "Team 10 passed."_

"_Hmmm…." Hiruzen hummed as he smoked his pipe. "Very well. Your full reports are due tomorrow. You are dismissed." All of the Jounin turned to leave except for Kurenai and Asuma. "Is there something I can help you with?"_

"_I thought it would be better if I told you-"_

"_That Choji was the one who did most of the work? And that Shino, Hinata and Naruto found you faster than you expected, Kurenai-chan?"_

_Both Jounin sensei were gobbsmacked. "How did you…"_

_The older man puffed his pipe. "I knew because I oversaw some of their training. Kurenai, I warned you beforehand to not take them lightly. You took my word while thinking I was going senile. Those four are members of an elite group under my direct command. As for finding you, Kurenai, I'm surprised it took them that long."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_In order for the four of them to monitor the village, they have fielded massive amounts of Kage Bunshin in order for them to react to problems. The Bunshin are Henged into various animals and/or objects. One of Naruto's clones actually turned into Tora and lead Team Gai on a merry chase for almost 12 hours. We had quite the laugh afterwards when he described how he humiliated Neji by scratching him beyond belief and then using him for a litter box before running off." He chuckled. "Gai's face when he informed us of their progress when I told him that it was someone's Kage Bunshin was priceless." He turned to his dumbstruck son. "Choji is one of the team's heaviest hitters. That's why he was able to take you on and win with only a few scratches. They have all but mastered the basic jutsus, with the exception of Naruto and the Academy's Bunshin no Jutsu which he will more than likely never have the chakra control needed to do it, and the Shunshin and are working on various jutsu across all ranks and also have several Ryuudan no jutsus under their belts. Though all of them are now in the Forbidden Scroll."_

_Both jounin's jaws dropped. "Why the hell-"_

"_Are they so strong?" Hiruzen puffed his pipe again as his facial expression changed. _

_Asuma saw that they were no longer talking to the Professor, but to an old man that had seen many horrors in his life._

"_They are that strong so that should they need to, they can neutralize the entire shinobi population of this village with the exception of ROOT and anyone who are their allies."_

_Flashback Kai!_

Kurenai could only hope that they never needed to call on that much power.

* * *

Naruto crouched overlooking a warehouse as the moon shone with a reddish tint. Shino's intel reported that one of the 'esteemed' civilian council members, Nomaru, was making a trade with something for something in roughly 5 minutes. His eyes flashed slightly.

They found evidence over their past missions with sabotaging the civilian councils' 'under the table' dealings that suggested that they were gearing up for something big. Almost immediately, Itachi Uchiha flashed into his head. Naruto, and only Naruto had been allowed to look at the sealed file that revealed the true reason for the Uchiha Massacre.

The Uchiha were plotting genocide and a coup.

Not just any normal genocide was being planned, but a purge of all shinobi clans that were not allied with the traitorous clan. Even then, they planned on double crossing them as well. Naruto gnashed his teeth silently and dug his partially transformed hands into the stone below him. He came to one simple conclusion, Itachi was a hero. And Sasuke wanted to kill him. Itachi was a part of a rank that Danzo and the Sandaime called the Bloody Angels, people who sacrificed everything they had to save the greater good. It was a path that they hoped no one else had to go down.

He felt Shino report in. '_Scarab, reporting in. I am in position and see the meeting._'

'_Ogre, reporting in. I'm in position._'

'_Yuki, checking in. I have the bead on the Civilian Council member and am ready to strike._'

'_Yuki, you are using the tranq darts, right?_'

Silence met him.

'_Yuki…_'

'_He deserves to die; you know this as well as I do, Ryu-taicho. He has committed multiple heinous crimes and is a part of a human trafficking circle that is outlawed across all of the Elemental Nations-'_

'_I agree, but he needs to suffer. He needs to pay for his crimes. Killing him will only be a mercy._'

He could hear her muttering over the mental link the medallion created between them.

'_Cooperate, and I'll try to pull some strings to let you be the one to decapitate him should he refuse to commit seppuku._'

'_Deal._' After 5 seconds, Hinata reported back. '_tranq darts loaded and waiting, taicho.'_

'_Very well._' Naruto watched as the meeting began. '_Begin Operation: Silent Civilian._'

_At the meeting spot_

Nomaru was pleased with himself. He had managed to get a hold of Gato, one of the biggest human traffickers in the Nations, and make a deal with him. The deal was that should he find any female with a bloodline, he would hand her over for a handsome sum. Then, when Sasuke-sama (in his twisted mind at least) became 16, he would marry the bloodline wielders and bring the Uchiha clan more glory and power.

Of course, our favorite outcasts would be interfering with the meeting.

The man felt a prick of something on his neck and immediately felt woozy. He fell over and watched as his ANBU guards were incapacitated by 3 shinobi wearing similar gear. The only exception was color and belts.

His world became dark.

_Time: Unknown, Location: Unknown_

Nomaru groaned as he felt his blood rushing to his head. Dazed, he realized he was no longer at the meeting point, but in a small room with no distinguishing markings and no door.

"H-hello?" He called out tentatively.

"BOO!"

He screamed and promptly let loose his bladder. What made it worse was the fact that he could feel it running down his silk garments, custom made by some weavers in Rice Country. Very expensive.

The wire slowly turned for him to be greeted with the sight of a female wearing a mask similar to one of the yuki-onna of the mountains and an indigo and dark lavender duster with armor on her legs, left arm and chest. The right arm was exposed and revealed numerous seals drawn onto the skin. "Hi ya!" the girl's mask eyes became up-side down U's and she made a peace sign. "Welcome to my Chamber of Pain, my Castle of Terror, my Dungeon of Horror, my Lab of Insanity and the place me and my friends gather to play poker about once a week. Now, will you give up the info I need the easy way or the hard way? Either way, it will be painless."

"How dare you! You have no right to detain me! I am a member of the greatest council Konoha has ever seen! I demand you let me go!" Nomaru shouted.

"…" the Yuki-onna looked contemplative. "You know, there was this new interrogation technique I wasn't going to use. But you chose the hard way." She proceeded to summon various objects, including a chicken, a bunny, Vasoline, several types of fruit baskets, and a spoon. "I call this one the World of One Thousand Pineapples technique. Now hold still…" She held up the spoon and the pineapples.

"No, wait, what are you do-AHHHHHHH!"

"Quit crying, you big baby! Now for the next piece, Snuggles-san here is going to get very acquainted with you."

"Which one is…?"

"Snuggles-san is the chicken. He likes to make grown men feel like most women in bandit camps."

"No, don't put that there! No! No! AAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!"

"That was his way of saying hi!"

"I-I thought you said this was going to be painless!"

"And it isn't. At least, for me it isn't. Can't say the same about you though."

"Why is the bunny holding the…No! No! I only have 2 of those! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Wow, I didn't know the spine could bend that far. Cool! Now for Level 2…"

_Several hours later_

Yuki left the room with a twitching Nomaru on the floor while mumbling, "Mommy, make the mean bunny go away. Make Snuggles-san give me my baby maker back." She skipped across the hall and was greeted with the sight of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Hiruzen all kneeling near the trash can. Anko had a notepad out and was scribbling down even more ideas for her interrogations. She pulled off her mask and Hinata had a grim face on as opposed to the happy look the mask had. "I got the intel."

"And?" Danzo was looking squeamish himself.

"He is a part of a deal with one Gato of Gato Shipping Industries. Gato would keep an eye out for girls with bloodlines and would hand them over to Nomaru for Duck butt to marry when he reached 16. No one has traded anything yet, but it looked like they were going to finalize the deal and trade tonight." She washed her hands in the sink. "Gato told him he had found 2 girls, but one of them managed to escape."

"Thank you Hinata-chan. You're dismissed for the night."

Hinata nodded and turned and left. As she approached her room in the ROOT BASE, her resolve wavered and tears began to leak from her eyes. She slammed her fist into the wall as more and more came running out. She had gleaned much more info than she had told them, but they would have found out eventually, due to her having to file a report.

The man had kidnapped and raped up to 20 women from all over the Elemental Nations. Using the human trafficking ring he was a part of, he had up to 20 slaves, all of them the women he raped over the years. He had physically abused them enough that none of them could carry children anymore. In many of the female gender's eyes, that was a punishment worse than death.

She felt a presence behind her. Turning, she saw Naruto. "Hinata-chan." He saw her tears and immediately enveloped her in a hug.

"Please, sleep with me tonight." She murmured.

Naruto nodded. "I will."

**(A/N: No lemon you perverts cuz they are still young! He is simply staying by her.)**

* * *

Naruto rose slowly from the bed. Hinata had cried herself to sleep after telling him what she had gleaned from the traitorous councilman. It was only a little past midnight. He summoned a shadow clone to take his place. He grabbed his duster and exited the room. Choji and Shino were standing against the wall next to the room. "Your orders?" Shino asked.

"Raid the place." Naruto ordered as he placed his mask on his face. "Protect the girls. Should any ANBU get in our way." The eyes flashed red. "Show no mercy."

_Time: 0125, Location: Nomaru's compound_

Ookami, Tengu, Hebi, Tora, Taka, and Tonbo were standing guard around Nomaru's compound. Or rather, Hebi and Tonbo were, while the other 4 were pleasing their desires with the women confined in there.

Hebi looked at the other ANBU. "They better hurry up. Nomaru-sama is due back soon."

"Oh, he won't be coming back at all."

Twin giant fists collided with their bodies and knocked them further into the compound as a black barrier flared to life on the walls of the compound. Three figures in dusters landed on by the wall. The one on the left's fists were shrinking down to their normal size as they began to slowly advance. "Scarab, take these two down. Ogre and I will deal with the heathens inside."

"Hai, Taicho." The one on the right, Scarab responded.

The other two dashed away faster than the two ANBU on the outside could respond to. Turning to face the now sole attacker, they were greeted with the sight of 2 large blades. The one on the right looked like it had a zig zag crack along it and the other looked like it was not even complete.

Tonbo laughed. "Ha, those swords look like they have seen better days. One hit and they'll go crumbling."

"…" Scarab flicked his wrist, causing the first sword to split, revealing metal gears and links. He twitched his other hand and the second blade was attached to the first. "Yukensetsu: First Fusion." He drew his right arm back as his left trailed along the blade. Scarab's legs shifted as his body became lower and his legs were spread apart. "Come."

Hebi struck first. "**Suiton: Teppoudama**!" He spat 5 water bullets as he raced forward, drawing a kunai after he had covered half the distance.

Scarab said nothing as the water bullets advanced. The bullets hit their mark, kicking up dust and mist. A figure appeared and slashed diagonally at the ANBU. Hebi managed to deflect it, and dove past him, trying to cut the tendons by the knees. As he rolled to a stop, he looked back to see if the man had fallen.

Tonbo thought that the man had been disabled as well. He walked up to him, intent on capturing him for the councilor to question later. As the smoke cleared, the figure could be seen with his sword sheathed across his waist, standing and looking like he had when he had entered. Hebi felt woozy and looked down to see the slash he thought he had evaded. The cut was light, but he could feel something drawing his chakra away. He didn't have time to think about this revelation as he passed out from chakra and rapid blood loss.

Tonbo's senses warned him of the attack miliseconds before he was forced to dodge. He looked at the statue-like shinobi only to see that his hand was resting on the hilt of the blade. Looking back, he saw a groove in the ground and a large slash hitting one of the posts holding up the outer part of the roof.

"You have excellent reflexes." Tonbo's head whipped around as his opponent spoke for the first time. "Tell me, why do you serve Nomaru?"

Tonbo hung his head. "I don't have a choice. He has bankrupted my family and threatened to put me, my wife and my twins out on the street. We have very little money even with the wage I bring in. I wish to be free and report him to Hokage-sama, but if he catches wind of this…."

"I see." Scarab nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a seal tag. "Put this on your armor and leave this place. Get your family and tell Hokage-sama that Scarab welcomes you and that you seek the visible hidden. He will know what it means."

Tonbo stood there in shock. "Why?"

"Despite how well you can hide your face with that mask, you can't hide your eyes. I have been trained to see the very spirit of a person through that alone. I can see that you are telling the truth. Now go. I have to deal with your comrade." He pulled out Yukensetsu. "Go."

Tonbo did just that.

Scarab looked over at the fallen ANBU. "Unfortunately for you, there can only be one witness." He reversed his grip on the blade and raised his hand above his head. "May you find redemption in the afterlife." He plunged the sword downwards. The metal split the flesh with ease. Hebi went ridged for a moment before going limp. Mere seconds after the killing blow was landed, Scarab whispered, "**Consume**."

The man's body began to bubble as thousands of insects entered the body and began to break the body down. Scarab looked on as the body became a pile of goo that quickly vanished. Scarab flicked the blade to clear the blood that was along the tip and sheathed the blade. He leapt up to the side of the barrier and waited.

_With the other traitorous ANBU_

Ookami leaned against the door frame as the noise revealed that Tora and Tengu were almost done. Taka muttered. "We should stop them."

"Let them have their fun. They deserve it."

"BUT THE GIRLS DON'T!" The bellow was heard just before they were grabbed by the neck and slammed into the floor, breaking the wood and causing both ANBU to cry out. They were then dragged along the break, causing the wood to break more and more as their heads and necks were used as splitters for the polished floor. Tora and Tengu were out of the door with their pants still down by their knees as the two keeping watch were dragged away.

"**NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR SINS!**" A second voice thundered as both ANBU were grabbed by their hair and dragged out to the court yard. The second being threw them towards the center of the yard. Landing in a tumble, Tora looked up to see Ookami's fear stricken face as blood leaked from multiple scratches with his neck twisted in an unnatural angle. He heard Tengu's cry showing that the same fate was dealt to Taka. There was a thud as something appeared out of the building and smashed through part of the roof. Seeing the scales, the claws and the dragonic face, Tora froze in fear. "**Ogre, get the women out of here. Rendezvous with Scarab. I'll finish the job.**"

"Understood." Both ANBU reached for their tanto or kunai pouch only to find that the articles had been ripped off. Both were kept in place by massive amounts of KI if they attempted to move or preform jutsu. After a time, the dragon grinned. "**I've been meaning to try a new move I learned of, but it's so hard to find a good time to try it. Enjoy the last thing you will ever see! Ryuton: Fury: Firestorm of the Apocalypse!**"

The dragon rose up into the air as crimson energy gathered around the creature. Eyes glowing blood red, he breathed in as the energy gathered to an apex. Both ANBU realized that was the time to try and get away.

Too little, too late.

The energy exploded outwards, unleashing a solid wave of blistering flames. Tengu was too slow and was caught up in the storm. Tora looked back as he ran to see Tengu's blackened outstretched hand as it crumbled to ash. Tora picked up speed, hoping that he could reach the compound walls in time. He leapt up over the last roof top, only to be greeted with the black wall of the barrier that Ryu had set up. He turned back to see the maelstrom of flame grow bigger as it greedily consumed everything it touched. Caught between the wall and the fire, he shouted, "**SUITON: MIZURAPPA!**" He spat a torrent of water at the growing storm. He could hear the laughter from the dragon in the center as the flames moved faster as the heat evaporated the liquid as it hit. Tora bearly had any time to scream as the hungry tongues consumed him.

At the center of the fire storm, Ryu roared with sorrow and rage as the flames hit the barrier.

* * *

Hinata snuggled closer to the clone as Naruto entered the room. He looked on at the peaceful scene. He performed **Kawarimi** with the clone and would have settled in if it wasn't for the Jyuuken strike on his neck. He looked on as Hinata raised her head to glare at him. "You didn't need to see it." He muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"And the women and the ANBU?" she growled. She was really pissed at him.

"One ANBU was being forced to serve Nomaru against his will. The other 5 are taken care of. Baa-chan and Inoichi are looking at them; Baa-chan is examining their health while Inoichi is seeing what he can do about their memories." Naruto calmly replied while he sweated on the inside. She was using that really sweet look that promised death should he answer in a way she didn't like.

She nodded. "Alright." She settled back down next to him. He breathed a sigh of relief just before she said. "You're still in trouble. I'm talking to Nai-sensei and Jiji-sama to stick you with first dibs on Catch Tora missions for the next two weeks. Same with Shino-kun and Choji-kun."

'_Shit._'

Choji and Shino felt a shiver go up their spines. '_Oh Kami, I hope Hinata isn't mad._'

* * *

**And that is chapter 6! Read and Review!**

**Ja ne!**


	7. Chapter 7: Suspicions and War

**Kyuu: Kinda sad at the lack of reviews, but it is to be expected with my having to switch accounts. Ah well, sei la vei. (I think that's how it's spelled.)**

**To Meck Vicking: Too true. I agree that it was a ROOT mission, but that is the only type of missions they can take for Black Ops.**

**To Darkryus: I'll try to update as often as I can, but I operate on a vastly different time table than the one I was on with I first started the story. Don't be surprised if things are spaced out.**

**To Nightshadegirl: eh, only one of the techs (techniques/jutsus) was actually mine and it was more of a kenjutsu art than ninjutsu. Those jutsus were actually apart of the ninjustu list located on leafninja . com. Very handy website. As for pitying the boys, I was considering making them do worse things, but remembered that Tora is the Bane of all Genin, so I went with the cat.**

**To loretta537: Arigato, and there will be a delayed reaction due to the happenings in this chapter.**

**To everyone else, I will try to update as often as I can, but my muse seems to have gone poof and pulled a Kage Bunshin on me and I can't find her. Not to mention my schedule is wacky enough as is. So, I can only do so much. Until then, here is Chapter 7!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one for disclaimer if you care.**

* * *

Choji, Shino, and Naruto stood at attention in front of the Sandaime as he looked them over. Hinata had informed him of the late night happenings the trio did and while he didn't blame them, he still had SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) to follow.

"All three of you have broken protocol and not only caused property damage, but also killed 5 ANBU. What say you to these charges?" the Sandaime eyed them both.

"Nothing." They said in chorus.

"Very well. Your punishment will be first dibs on all Tora missions for 3 weeks and you will have to endure the Trial for 3 hours."

All three of them broke out in a cold sweat. The Trial was the final test Akane had given them before they had graduated the Academy. Take the Hunter Nins, ROOT, and a really dark place with all sorts of places to hide and all sorts of places to get ambushed if unprepared and things that go thump in the night. In order to pass, they needed to survive 5 minutes in there.

They were twitching at the slightest thing for a few months after that.

"Dismissed." All three turned and marched their asses out to catch Tora. "Hinata-chan, we have a solo mission for you in the meantime."

Hinata nodded as she readied her gear. "What is it?" Hiruzen tossed her a scroll that was sitting next to his elbow. She unrolled it and scanned the contents briefly. "Understood. I'll depart immediately."

Hinata rolled up the scroll and left the building. She walked silently through the crowd. Observing quietly as they went about their daily lives. Already the results of the previous night's events were coming to light.

"Did you hear? Councilman Nomaru's compound was found to be completely obliterated this morning."

"The neighbors were saying that they saw a pitch black barrier appear and vanish around the place."

"Do you think it was…._him_?"

"It's possible. The council will be raising questions to the Hokage about this though."

"Maybe they can finally get him executed."

Hinata shook her head as she headed for the village gates. Bigots, the lot of them. She stopped by Izumo and Kotetsu, the two eternal Chunin that everyone loves and two members of the Outcasts support branch, to sign out.

Team 7 happened to be going by collecting garbage for their daily D-rank mission. Kiba saw her over by the two chunin. "Hey, Hinata!"

She spared him a glance as the two guards checked over the mission scroll she was carrying. "Do you need something, Kiba-san?" She was all business now. No being friendly when she was leaving on such an important mission.

Trust no one but those you have shed blood with.

All of the Outcasts had shed blood together in some way, shape or form.

"Ne, what are you doing?" the curious dog user inquired.

"None of your damn business. Now get back to your mission!" She snapped. She whisked the now verified scroll out of the impassive guards' hands and leapt up into the trees.

Kakashi Hatake watched his charge go back to his mission before checking the logs the chunins kept. The newest entry was as follows and it made his eye widen.

_Hyuuga Hinata signed out at 1143 for A rank mission._

He was baffled. A genin was given an A-rank mission and she was soloing? Add to the fact that according to what he could pry from his students, she was an average student at best in the Academy. She also was shy beyond belief and stuttered like mad while having extreme confidence issues. What was the Hokage thinking?

He would be asking the Hokage and reporting this to the Council.

But first it was time for him to get back to his Icha Icha.

* * *

Hinata sighed as she undressed for the night. She had started a small fire that provided heat, but no light. She set up several shadow clones as she curled up in her sleeping bag.

Hokage-jiji hardly ever sent them out on solo missions. It was a rare thing, but due to the fact that he was punishing her teammates for their actions, she needed some time away from her home.

Closing her eyes, she pondered the slight incident with Kiba. The dog user had been after her ever since she put on that trice damned mask. She seriously considered castrating him for some of the unwanted advances he tried to put on her. She could have handled the questioning genin better, but she had little patience when it came to anyone outside of the Outcasts. Mostly because they didn't know the pain that all of the younger ninja had been through or were going through.

Reactor was easily shown as he was forced to wear a suit of armor to keep his radiant energy in check and was very rarely seen in public. The newest recruit, Kairi, was experiencing the pain of not being able to tell anyone what she did and no doubt felt alone because of it. Hinata herself was ostracized by most of the Main family due to her lack of using the Caged Bird seal, and not particularly well liked by the Branch family for being a Main family member, but the Branch family was warming up. Shino and Choji were not hated, but at least Choji was picked on beyond belief for his 'well rounded' body, as they had put it so many times. Shino never really showed his emotions, a typical Aburame habit, but even he had some bad deals in life. Naruto….

He had changed since his bloodline awakened. He sometimes went off for hours only to come back haggard and weary, an odd sight for those that knew him well. It first happened on a bandit mission they were doing near the border of Tea. After the battle, he took off saying that he had to check something. By doing that, he was giving up his share of the loot. Something he had never done. It was not a constant thing, but her carefully honed Naruto ReadingTM skills told her that something more had happened when he had awakened his bloodline. He never told anyone anything about what happened in his head while he was under. Knowing him, he was never going to say unless forced. Even then, he had his seal to fall back on.

Pulling her mind away from the blonde enigma, she raised her arm to look closer at the seals inked on her right arm. She was the torturer of the group, the long range assassin. The weapons Naruto had crafted for her were really works of art. He had based each one that she possessed off of a video game series or a TV show he had seen. How he managed to get all of the finer details was unknown to all except Akane-chan. Now she was on her way for a mission that required her accuracy with these to be at her very best.

Resting her arm beside her, she closed her eyes and let her chakra flow to some of the seals she had on her body. One seal glowed briefly around her right eye before going around her left as well.

Raiga and Aoi wouldn't know what hit them.

* * *

_3 weeks later_

Shikamaru sighed as he watched the clouds from a hill inside a training ground. Choji had been pulled off the team for a time and Ino was training with Asuma below him. But why was Choji pulled off the team, albeit temporarily? Nothing stood out during their D-ranks, so it had to be off hours. There were times that Choji would randomly up and leave or one of team 8 would stop by and grab him for something. He had inquired about it, but Choji was extremely tight lipped about it. Which pointed to that he was being secretive and/or he was involved with something big. But what?

"Alright, let's go get a mission for today," his sensei called as Ino picked herself off of the ground.

"Troublesome." The Nara muttered as he stood to join them.

It was a quiet walk towards the mission hall broken only by the sight of Tora running like a bat out of hell across their path followed shortly by 3 genin that looked familiar. All three was foaming at the mouth chasing the poor creature. As they neared the mission hall, he was surprised to see the leader of team 7 with his ear against the doors as muffled shouts could be heard. The rest of the team was looking at the record board as Kakashi saw Asuma and waved him over. "I think you might want to hear this." Asuma leaned against the door to listen in.

"I don't care what she is doing! I want to know why she hasn't been at the Hyuuga mansion and why she has not told me about her progress!" Hiashi exclaimed. "I demand that she be recalled from her mission immediately!"

There was the sound of a pipe being drawn in. "Why do you care, Hiashi-san?" Hiruzen's calm voice echoed slightly. "She has confided in me that her home is not very hospitable to her and yet you wish to bring her back? Hyuuga Hinata is away on an A rank mission I personally requested. She was also requested from one of my informants outside the village. I cannot tell you the details due to any prying ears that maybe around, but while you have next to little confidence about her abilities, I have utter faith in her."

"She is weaker than her sister, who is 5 years younger than her!"

"Again, despite your kekkei genkai, you miss the obvious truth due to your nose being so high." The Sandaime smoothly replied and continued on as the Hyuuga head sputtered at the insult. "I warn you now, Hiashi-san. Do anything against her, and there will no doubt be a repeat of the Uchiha Massacre."

Silence reigned for several terse minutes. "Is that a threat?" Hiashi hissed.

"Not a threat, Hiashi," They heard footsteps getting closer to the door. They prepared to jump away as Hiruzen finished his thought, "but rather a promise and guarantee. Now, I have other business that needs my attention."

Asuma and Kakashi leapt back to avoid being hit by the double doors as the Hyuuga head stormed out of the hall. Leading the teams in, Kakashi barely got a word out before Sasuke demanded, "We want an A-rank mission, Hokage-sama."

His love-struck puppy agreed whole heartedly.

"Oh? And what makes you think that you'll get that mission, Sasuke-kun?"

"Simple, I'm an Uchiha. I'm more qualified than Hyuuga-san for an A-rank."

"How so?"

"I'm an Uchiha."

"Hmmm…no. You are not ready."

"I am the Last Uchiha! I need-"

"TO LEARN YOUR PLACE, GENIN!" the elder Sarutobi roared at the Uchiha. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DEMAND ANYTHING OF ME EXCEPT FOR A CUP OF SUGAR FOR YOUR TEA, IF THAT! YOU WILL HAVE A C-RANK WHEN KAKASHI-SAN DECIDES THAT YOU ARE READY!" The old man visibly calmed himself as he puffed more of his pipe. "Kakashi, the floor is yours."

Kakashi felt Sasuke's futile attempt at glaring at him and making him take a C-rank. Sakura's glare was even worse. Only Kiba seemed to have the sense to not provoke him. Not that Sasuke needed to glare at him. "I believe that team 7 is ready for a C-rank."

Sarutobi nodded acknowledgement to the Cyclops and pulled out a mission scroll. "Send in Tazuna-san."

After a short time, the doors opened to reveal a slightly tan elderly man swigging sake like no tomorrow. "Is this it? A brat and his puppy, an emo kid with a duck's ass for hair, a girl that looks ready to fall apart at any time and a half blind man? What the hell kind of protection is this?"

Sasuke puffed up his chest, "You should be honored to have the last Uchiha as your bodyguard."

"Oh yes, after all, should Copy-Cat Kakashi fail, the duckbutt will try to make his enemies bow before him because of his last name and dojutsu that he doesn't even have yet and Pinky will try to get the duckbutt to save her, which won't happen, I bet my kunai on it and Mutt-kun will dig a nice little grave for you should you kick the bucket from all of the sake you're drinking." Naruto's voice popped up from the window as a haggard Shino and Choji appeared crouching on either side of him with a stiff looking Tora being held by the scruff of his neck. "Finally caught the damn cat."

Sarutobi raised an eye brow at the cat's stiffness. "How did that happen?"

"Well…."

_Few minutes prior_

"**GET YOUR MANGY ASS BACK HERE, YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A CAT!"** Naruto roared while in dragon mode as he pelted after the Bane of all Genin with KI rolling off of him in waves.

_Present time_

"Naruto got pissed and things got a tad bit _scaly_ from there." Shino relayed, knowing that Naruto was still working on some of the kinks of accidentally activating his bloodline when he got super pissed.

"Very well, Team 7 you are dismissed."

"Dobe, I demand that you tell me what he meant by scaly!"

"No, Sas-uke-chan." Naruto ignored the "I'm not gay!" and Sakura's "Yeah, Sasuke-kun isn't gay!" reply. "You have no rank nor any pull over me, so go suck Kakashi's left testicle, cuz you ain't getting near mine."

"Can I have Blondie, at least?" Tazuna asked. "I'll never be bored with him."

"Ha, that's the dobe dead last, who is nothing like an Elite like me!"

"Yeah!" the pink banshee shrieked.

Naruto looked at the Sandaime with an expression that clearly said, "Can I please maim/horrifically injure them?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "A mission request came in that will have them travel the same path as you, but that's all, I am afraid. Team 7 is dismissed." A slightly happy yet not happy Tazuna followed the assigned team outside. "As for you, Team 10, I will need to assign a temporary sensei to you, due to my need of Asuma. He will meet you outside." Ino grumbled as Shikamaru shrugged. As the two left, Naruto placed silencing seals on the doors and the windows as well as blackout seals on the windows. "Asuma, I believe that you are aware of the conflict in Kiri, correct?"

"The Kekkei genkai Genocide and a civil war."

"Correct on both accounts. You four have a three part mission. Hinata sent in a status update recently and has found Aoi in Wave, apparently at the hire of on Gato of Gato Shipping Corporation. Due to this, she will rendezvous with you and will your help in drawing him out. Naruto knows what to do with the Raijin." The blonde nodded. "but Hinata must make the kill. Afterwards, you are to rendezvous with Zabuza Momochi and Haku Momochi at the ruins of Uzu and head for Kiri." Sarutobi took a deep breath on his pipe and blew out the smoke. "Mei Terumi has found a survivor of Haku's clan."

Shino shot straight up. "What?"

Hiruzen made a 'calm down' gesture to the boy. "The girl has managed to avoid contact with others due to hiding with a local wolf pack. The only true problem is that all attempts to meet with her have been met with open hostility. So securing her is you second mission objective."

He shuddered slightly. "The final objective is to take down the Yondaime Mizukage at all costs. I am authorizing a Level 3 UNLOCK when you engage in the conflict and a Level 6 UNLOCK should you engage the Yondaime."

All three of the genin froze. "Um, I seem to be a bit out of the loop, but what is this unlock thing?" Asuma asked slightly worried.

Naruto spoke with a shaky voice. "We are still inexperienced with engaging Missing Nin or trained shinobi. The UNLOCK system pushes or restrains our power to the very limits. Level 1 is Genin abilities. Level 2 is Chunin. Level 3 is Jounin. Level 4 is ANBU. Level 5 is Kage. Level Six is the only level applicable to myself. That level…is Biju. It's confirmed Jiji?"

The elder Hokage nodded. "Yes. Yagura is the Jinchuuriki of Sanbi, the three tailed turtle."

"WHAT?!" Asuma roared. "You're sending fresh green genin into a bloody conflict to fight a fricking Biju? Father, with all due respect, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!"

"No, Asuma." Hiruzen puffed his pipe more. "The purpose of the Outcasts is to be able to neutralize a village's defenses with minimal casualties and damage. This requires them to be at either my level or at least ANBU. This is the first actual test of the group without having to wait for the council to try and overthrow me or my successor. This is a golden opportunity that we cannot pass up. I hate sending shinobi into a battle with long odds, especially young ones and especially after the Second and Third Great Wars, but I have to. This conflict has more at stake than just if a country loses its stability or not. Should this escalate, shinobi with any form of kekkei genkai will be targeted whether or not they are with Kiri. We may have another Great War on our hands, primed and ready to ignite." The old man breathed deeply. "I cannot say that I'm sorry because while I am, I must do this. You have your orders. Go."

* * *

_Later, Naruto's mindscape_

Books flew every which way, settling on bookshelves only to be launched back into the air. Naruto had managed to find several of the Chronicler's book caches around Konoha and was now searching it for any helpful information on the Sanbi. The most he could get was that the three tails was a turtle, its name and that it used water a lot to attack. Akane had given him a list of abilities that all of the Biju could do, but almost none of them had the same elemental affinities. Shukaku was sand and wind, Matatabi was Hellfire, Isobu was a Water type, Son Goku was a Lava user, Kokuo was a Steam wielder, Saiken had something to do with bubbles and gas, Choumei was a Dust user, although different from the Dust kekkei genkai that the Tsuchikage uses; and Gyuuki was adamant on no one knowing what he used. Akane herself was Firestorm, wind and fire.

Naruto shook his head and closed his current book before it flew back to its shelf and another took its place. Though Akane was actually aligned with all the elements, she liked the firestorm ability. T'was much more destructive and wild than wind or fire alone. He released the book that had flown down to him, ending the search for now. He needed to get to one of the caches in Kiri in order to learn more about his enemy. But that would have to wait.

He walked over to the map that sat on one of the walls between the pillars. On the map was the entire Elemental Nations plus some that appeared to be unclaimed. The map grew more and more refined as he found more caches. The clearest area was Fire Country and the border of Tea.

If one took a moment to look around, they would find a wall just outside the circle of pillars covered with indentations for items unknown. There was also a desk covered with pages upon pages of notes and many more wonders, but it all dissolved to black as Naruto rejoined the outside world.

Gathering his equipment, he headed out the door while activating the seal that readied a multitude of traps that ranged from harmless to outright deadly. As he walked, he pulled out a book called 'Fuinjutsu: Expert'. Jiraiya was sure that Naruto could make higher powered seals, but both of them agreed that he should pace himself. Learn too much and it makes you a target in more ways than one.

Looking back over his training, he took a moment to analyze his bloodline training. He had managed to make several hi-ryu techs, but really wanted to unlock either the next stage or the next element, but he didn't know which would come first. Hopping over a Genin that was chasing Tora, he thought, '_Ever since I got fire unlocked, I've been more tempermental and quick to anger. Wait, I was never like that before, so maybe it has to be my mind set. Maybe I need to be calm and collected or something._' He scratched his head in frustration. '_Gah, my head hurts now!_'

Arriving at the north gate, he was greeted with the sight of Team 7 and Tazuna waiting on Kakashi and Choji and Shino waiting on Asuma. Sniffing the air, he chuckled, "Really, Tazuna-san? That sake is piss poor and weak."

"Oh yeah?" the old man said, "and you know your sake how?"

"Simple," he thumbed his headband. "Old enough to kill, old enough to drink, gamble and fuck. Plus, I have an even better bottle on me." He pulled out a bottle filled with a fire red liquid and marked only by a snake covered in flames.

Tazuna's eyes widened. "That can't be!"

"Oh, but it is."

"What is it?" Kiba asked.

"One of the rarest sakes ever made. Only 5 bottles are made each year. That is the ultimate sake, called YouHi, made by HiHebi. This shit is so strong that it'll make Broody over there snap out of it and take up ballet and sing in the choir, with just a sip." Tazuna looked at the bottle reverently. "Boy you are one lucky son of a bitch and I mean that in the most nicest way possible."

Shino snorted. "He's got two of those bottles."

"WHAT?!" Tazuna screamed.

"Yup. We did the owner a favor and Naruto gets at least one bottle per year now. Personally made and marked." Choji nodded. "I get tickets to the Fountain in Hot Springs Country."

All of the males excluding Sasuke, Shino, and Naruto tilted their heads and scratched them. "What?"

Sakura was the one who spoke up. "The Fountain is one of the most hard to get into hot springs resorts that Hot Springs Country has to offer. Reservations are said to have to be made almost 2 years in advance and is said to be really romantic!" She looked at Choji almost greedily. "Give me those tickets!"

"Ah, no." Choji shook his head. "Unlike Naruto, these tickets are a one-time only thing. I'm saving them for my honeymoon should I get married."

Naruto leaned in and whispered to Shino. "Little liar. He's got over 50 of those tickets."

"Ah, but she automatically assumed he only has 2." The Aburame replied softly.

"Very true." The blonde nodded.

Sasuke turned to Shino from his position under a tree. "And you?"

Shino pushed up his sunglasses with a finger. "I can call a simple number and a Ninja Chef will stop by and cook me a meal for little to no cost."

Now the shinobi's jaws were on the floor. Ninja Chefs were notorious for their delicious meals and deadly skills in the shinobi arts. The only problem with their meals was that if you ate too much, you gained weight very fast. Most were residing in Kumo, so for Shino to be able to call one for a meal so cheap was amazing. And down right odd.

"Dobe! How did you get those?"

"Hm? Oh doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. And not acting like an emo with a pole shoved up my ass." Naruto grinned as he stowed the bottle. "Oh, hi Asuma-san."

Asuma walked up with Kakashi not far behind him. "Alright you three, let's go." The son of Sandaime said.

"Team 7, move out." Kakashi ordered.

They moved at a sedate pace, mainly due to Tazuna. But Asuma and his three stayed ahead of the miscreants behind them. Naruto shivered slightly as he felt the Uchiha's glare trying to intimidate him. "You know, teme, if I didn't know any better, I would assume you glaring at me is your way of flirting with me. Sorry, I'm not your type."

Asuma, Shino, Choji, Akamaru, and Tazuna snickered at the Uchiha's expense. Sasuke tried to retort as they walked right by a puddle of water. After getting a few meters away, Naruto felt his pockets. "Well that is odd. I must've dropped that prank grenade I was tweaking."

"Do I even want to know?" Asuma asked.

"Well, as long as no one pulls off the pin and lifts the handle, everything is peachy keen." There was an explosion of pink and neon orange smoke behind them emanating from the puddle they passed by. "Huh, found it."

Two figures jumped out of the puddle. One was now dressed up like a clown with neon orange hair, the other looked like a pink poodle. The poodle growled. "Naruto….."

"Heya Meizu, heya Gouzu!" Naruto waved. "Are any of the others with you?"

A figure leapt out of the trees and tackled Shino and proceeded to roll into the bushes. "And there she is." Gouzu muttered. "Now, time for pay back for that."

"Eh, truce?" Naruto asked. He heard 'shink' as the claws on their gauntlets popped out. "Nope, didn't think so."

Letting out a howl of mock fury, the Oni brothers took off after the blonde.

Asuma and Team 7 plus Tazuna sweat dropped. "What just happened?"

Choji snapped his fingers. "Ah, never did explain that. The Oni brothers became a part of Konoha's forces a while ago along with Zabuza Momochi and Haku Momochi. They have kept operating outside of Konoha for a while now, keeping up the 'missing-nin' façade while feeding intel back to Sandaime."

"And you know this how, genin?" Kakashi hissed.

"Can't tell you. S rank secret and you are not cleared for it, Hatake." Choji thumbed the rustling bushes. "Oye, Love birds! Get out here or Zabuza will skin me alive should you two do anything under my watch!"

There was an 'eep!' and Haku and Shino were standing on the road. Shino straightened his coat and coughed. "Where's Naruto?"

There was tribal music playing as they watched Meizu and Gouzu marched by with a trussed up Naruto hanging from a pole on their shoulders.

Choji simply said. "Right there."

After getting the brothers to let go of the crazy blonde, they continued on with Haku getting a piggy-back ride from Shino and the Oni brothers walking next to Asuma and Choji while occasionally glaring at Naruto. Dusk came and the two groups made camp. Haku tried to sneak into Shino's tent, but was repelled by Choji who wanted a good night's sleep.

Naruto shook his head as one of his shadow clones on watch popped. Tensing, he said, "Haku, grab your kit."

Instantly, Haku went from 'girl trying to make up for lost time with her boyfriend' to 'Field medic'. Grabbing her med kit, she rushed to the edge of camp Naruto had managed to run to only to find Naruto holding up a battered and bloody Hinata. Moving quickly, she tore off the girl's duster and began accounting for all of the wounds. "Clean cuts on her arms, legs, left hip, right shoulder, slight static electricity hovering around her, bruises consistent with some taijutsu, bruised ribs and some slight fractures, and some blood loss. More quantity than quality, but she should be fine."

Hinata hissed as Haku poked a rather tender spot. "Teme got the jump on me. Most of my armor managed to stop the Raijin, but didn't stop enough. Managed to get away after he began gloating about the power the blade gave him." She sighed as healing balm was applied to one of the nastier bruises. "He lost his left hand from my encounter. Barring that, it will take him a week to recover."

"You did good, Hina-chan." Naruto soothed as she began to fall asleep. "Rest now, you're among friends."

Nearby, Sasuke had managed to overhear some of the conversation. '_I must get a hold of that blade! With that power, I am one step closer to Itachi!_'

Behind him, a shadow clone of Naruto watched the unstable boy with keen eyes. '_He's going to be trouble._'

* * *

**And here is chapter 7! The wave has started and soon some interesting moments will be occurring for our band of Outcasts. And Naruto will be receiving a different summon than toads!**

**As I had mentioned before at the beginning of the chapter, my schedule has been hectic lately and my muse seems to have vanished temporarily, but I will begin reposting Legends and the Hidden Village of Dragons soon! Read and review!**

**Ja ne!**


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